The New Recruit
by loveoc
Summary: Nightshade, The Huntress' former sidekick is reckless, stubborn, aggressive and very dangerous, certainly not fit to be part of the team. Following some problems with The Light, Nightshade is sent to the team as a way to keep her safe. Now the team that has to deal with the new villains The Light hired to get to Nightshade and they have to decide whether or not to trust her. RobxOC
1. COpy Cat

So this is the first chapter of my story, I changed the ages a little, my character and Robin are 15. Hope you like it, read and review.

January 15- Mount Justice -7:46 am-

The team, all of them but Rocket and Miss Martian, were sitting down on the couch lazing around. Lately there wasn't anything interesting to do, after beating the Light the criminal activity had decreased substantially; that was until Batman stormed into the room, The Huntress hot on his heels. Seeing this they got off the couch and rushed into the training room behind them, Batman touched the screen and the picture of a girl with white long hair and white cat like eyes appeared. Kid Flash's mouth hanged open, until Artemis smacked him in the head closing his mouth tight.

"This is Copy Cat; we believe she is the one responsible for some of the museum robberies around Gotham. Valuable, irreplaceable paintings have disappeared. We want you to find her and the paintings," said Batman, his eyes shifted from Huntress to the team as if he wanted her to tell them something and just when they were about to leave Huntress stopped them.

"Wait, Copy Cat is not your average villain, she is rather a handful; you'll need someone that knows her. When you get to the museum a girl will meet you there –I hope– to aid you, but I'll go with you just in case," the last part Huntress spoke was accompanied by a worried look and a tone of uneasiness and somewhat fear that was completely unexplainable to them at the time.

Gotham City, Local Museum of Art -8: 59 am-

Robin's P.O.V.

When the team arrived we saw that the police had covered the place up. It was almost impossible for someone to get through without being noticed, but then again Huntress did say this Copy Cat wasn't an average villain. Even so it would be pretty difficult for someone to sneak past the security and the cameras and of course us.

"I can't believe this, she said she'd be on time," said Huntress before calling someone from her comm. I turned my face and locked eyes with Zatana, after the kiss in New Year's Eve things had been a little awkward between us. Just when I was about to talk to her, off in the distance I heard the sound of a motor engine revving up the street, in a matter of seconds a black and red motorcycle parked across the street. The driver got off and took his helmet off to reveal medium length straight black hair, he was actually a girl, and by the big sigh of relieve Huntress let out I'd guess she was the one we were expecting. The girl walked up to us her helmet on her hand, it dangled freely as she walked slowly making sure everyone was watching her. She looks interesting, was the first thing that I thought after she got off her bike.

"You are late," remarked Huntress glaring as the girl stopped next to her.

"I know, I have a watch," she smiled and tossed the helmet to Huntress. "I borrowed your bike while you were out," The mocking smile faded when she saw us, quickly turning into a frown with additional eye rolling, which she finished off with a sigh.

"I'm Aqualad, leader of the team; we've been informed you were going to tell us everything about Copy Cat," He said going right to the point, the way he always did.

"Right, I'm Nightshade," she introduced herself to Aqualad then her head turned to face Huntress. "I will not forget this," she said suddenly changing her tone of voice from completely bored to mad. Huntress shook her head.

"Maybe if you had thought everything through you wouldn't be in this position," This time it was Huntress' turn to smile mockingly.

Nightshade looked back to Aqualad. "Let's get this over with so that I can finally leave," she walked into the building waiting for no one. I turned to talk to Huntress but she was gone. We were stuck with a maniac, at least that's how I felt. Inside Nightshade sat on the lobby's counter, her legs dangling free, slightly touching the ground with the tip of her toes.

Zatana stood next to me, she leaned and whispered: "I think she is a little strange, don't you?" I nodded and turned to face her. She smiled awkwardly and I went along with it for the sake of peace inside the team.

"Robin, Zatana get over here!" Called Kid Flash, we ran up to them. Nightshade Jumped off the counter brushed off her side bangs allowing us to see her full mask for a second before accommodating her hair back on her face. The mask cover her eyes completely and her side bangs covered her forehead and just a tiny part of her mask. I found myself wondering what color her eyes were and how she looked without the mask, before her voice drew me back from my thoughts.

"Now that you are all here—wait, aren't you missing two girls?" she noticed, but then continued, "Anyway I'll tell you about Copy Cat. She is very dangerous, but a coward, if she sees it necessary she will murder you right in the spot. Her powers are basically cloning herself, mimicking others and teleporting to a 1 mile radius. If she copies you she will get a part of your powers." She finished and started to walk away, but stopped halfway through the door, "Oh, almost forgot, she doesn't even need contact to get them, and so that makes it harder. Anyway, see you later. Wait no, if you have any problems do not call me." With that she left, Artemis called after her but she ignored her. All the more interesting now, I thought as I smiled to myself and walked to the other side with the team.

Gotham City, Local Museum of Art – 9:28 pm-

"How do we even know she is coming here?" asked Superboy getting slightly irritated by the overwhelming silence. Robin lifted his face, he saw Zatana's eyes shift from one side of the room to another. Superboy still waiting for an answer cleared his throat.

"It's the only museum that hasn't been robbed; anyway at least we know how she gets past security," answered Zatana shifting her body weight to her right leg moving away from a statue.

"I have a bad feeling about this place, It is really creepy," said Artemis eyeing the sculptures and paintings. A shattering noise filled the room and Superboy ran in its direction following the noise forcing the rest to follow him. To their surprise Nightshade was the one standing in the middle of shattered glass in the nature exhibition.

"Umm, Nightshade we thought you left hours ago," said Aqualad.

"I did, but then I thought you wouldn't be able to handle it," Nightshade answered. The team looked at each other, they felt insulted now. "You should have split up, she could be anywhere, do you have a map of this place?" she asked Robin.

"I do, all three levels," he answered checking the map that came out of his wristwatch; Nightshade looked at a door located in the back part of the museum.

"That door is not in the map," she said. "I think we should check it out," she opened the door and led the team in. When the last one of them entered she locked them inside. "This is why you don't send amateurs to do a professional's job Nightshade," she said slowly turning into Copy Cat as she walked away from the door.

"Nightshade, open the door!" yelled Aqualad from inside. Superboy tried to knock it down but the door didn't budge. Minutes later the door opened and on the other side was Nightshade holding a flashlight.

"What is this, hide and seek?" she said, the team got in fighting position; Nightshade looked at them puzzled. "Whatever you are doing stop it, I take Copy Cat got away, so we need to find her," she said crossing her arms over her chest. "Good thing I stuck around instead of leaving."

"Just how dumb do you think we are?" asked Robin.

"I don't wanna answer that question," she answered tightening her gloves around her wrist.

"Yeah, we fell once, it will not happen again," said Kid Flash. Nightshade smiled mockingly again. Suddenly the sound of laughter filled the room, a cocky irritating laugh coming from the corner. Copy Cat stood on the other side of the room; she had a white glove on her right hand and was dressed completely in white which came into contrast with her dark skin.

"So the one we saw wasn't you, it was Copy Cat?" asked Artemis, Nightshade nodded crossing her arms over her chest. Suddenly there was more than one Copy Cat and they were surrounding the team. Superboy looked at Nightshade; she stood in the middle of the circle scanning the room, spacing out instead of worrying about the situation.

Copy Cat, copying his form punched him in the face and sent him away into a wall. When he looked up he saw that Copy Cat had made copies of every team member, and each one of them was fighting themselves. He received another punch before grabbing Copy Cat's arm and slamming her head against the wall. On the other side of the room, Nightshade was pinned to the floor; she was the only one that was fighting Copy Cat in her original form. Copy Cat punched her across the face; then Nightshade wrapped her leg around her and pinned her to the floor.

"Are you underestimating me?" Nightshade asked actually feeling a little insulted, Copy Cat scratched Nightshade's arm opening a wound that stained her clothes and Nightshade's. The wounds started to close slowly, but Copy Cat smiled when she saw Nightshade's pain.

"No, this is revenge," said Copy Cat smiling as she kicked Nightshade into a wall.

"Are you still hung up on the arm incident?" said Nightshade leaning against the wall her eyes fixated on the glove in her hand, Copy Cat glared at her while Nightshade looked around, the team was losing, and she was cornered. Pathetic, was the only thing that crossed her mind.

"It was not an incident, you did it on purpose!" said Copy Cat now angry but then a smirk formed on her face after seeing her trapped in the corner. "What does it feel like being you right now? Being hunted down like a wild animal, and now being stuck with the other kids," Nightshade lifted up her face and smiled.

"I wouldn't say this is bad, better than the alternative," Nightshade said jumping over Copy Cat and kicking one of the Robins.

"How do you know which one is real?" asked Zatana.

"They are like a reflection, if one is right-handed the other one is left-handed, their insignias are on the wrong side too," explained Nightshade dodging punches and kicks. Suddenly they were all fighting someone different leaving behind the power equality. Since Nightshade was fighting Robin's copy, he was stuck fighting Copy Cat.

"If I were you, I'd stay away from her, unless of course you all want to die sooner than expected," whispered Copy Cat in his ear before pining him to the wall. On the other side of the room Nightshade was sent flying across the room, but when she landed the sound of the floor under her feet was hollow. She smirked and pulled out a knife and pinned the copies' cape to the ground not allowing him to move. When Copy Cat realized what Nightshade had done she and the copies disappeared, but not before Artemis threw an arrow at her that cut off a strand of hair.

"What just happened?" asked Artemis

"This tile is hollow" explained Nightshade, Aqualad stepped on it, it was indeed hollow, and Copy Cat had gotten scared so there must be something there. Robin looked at the map; there was no sign of a basement or storage room. Nightshade tried lifting the tile but it was too heavy. Superboy lifted it up with one hand and on the other side there was a stairwell that lead to the basement, everyone looked at Nightshade, rolling her eyes she went in followed by the rest of the team.

"I take back what I said before, this has to be the creepiest part of the building," remarked Artemis as they went down the surprisingly long stairs. Downstairs, the room was lit by a single lamp hanging on the ceiling moving back and forth. Aqualad stepped in front of Nightshade blocking her view; it was probably the first time they had noticed but Nightshade was much shorter than the others.

It was a really tight corridor; he started walking without saying a word the rest followed him. On the other side, the stolen paintings were piled up against the wall, so badly preserved they were all full of dust and dirt. Footsteps were heard upstairs and without hesitating Nightshade ran up the stairs, Aqualad looked at Robin and Zatanna who followed her, later Kid Flash joined them. They followed the sound of the heels resounding on the marble tiles until it went silent, they had ran up all the way to the third floor so the only alternative was...

"Roof," said Robin as he grabbed his hook and helped everyone up on the roof of the museum, when he climbed up, he was welcomed with a kick across his face; adjusting his mandible he got out, Nightshade followed. Copy Cat ran past them, but as soon as she did Nightshade ran after her with Robin right behind her while the rest of the team was left behind, but it didn't take them long to catch up. Robin looked at Nightshade; her black hair moved behind her and every time the slightest ray of light hit it, it glowed a bit red, contrasting with her light skin.

Kid Flash Carrying Zatanna caught up to them soon after, but Kid Flash lowered her and ran ahead of them; seeing through his plan Superboy followed. Nightshade ran faster and managed to catch up with Copy Cat but before she could actually do something, Copy Cat turned around kicked her and kept running. Nightshade was thrown back at Robin who tried to catch her, but both of them fell to the ground, she landed on top of him and rolled off before sitting down.

"You are heavier than you look," he said, the cut on her arm caught his attention, it didn't look as deep as it did before, Nightshade punched him in the stomach distracting him from the cut.

"And you are weaker than you look, but let's not focus on that right now," she said and stood up to catch up with the rest. Zatanna used a spell to form a wall in front of Copy Cat, but she teleported further away, so Nightshade reached into her belt and took out a knife, the hilt was a black metal and the knife seemed to be double edged. She threw it at Copy Cat's feet forcing her to slow down a little and look behind, seeing them Copy Cat picked up the pace only to run into Kid Flash and Superboy who stood in front of her. She stumbled to the ground and rolled away to the edge of the roof, but Nightshade and Superboy grabbed her by the arm and placed a black collar that was used in Belle Reve around her neck. When Nightshade grabbed her arm, Copy Cat's glove lifted up a little to reveal burnt skin, which caused her and the team to wince in pain.

"I wonder if we should let you go," said Nightshade, Copy Cat looked down at the ground and found out she was hanging at an incredible height and that she couldn't teleport, so her only choice to get out alive was Nightshade, and by experience she knew that was not good, she felt her hand slipping away and just closed her eyes tighter.

"Nightshade! We don't kill people," said Superboy holding onto Copy Cat's hand, she could feel Nightshade's grip tightening around her hand once more and she just closed her eyes until she felt the edge of the roof on her stomach.

"Can't do that now, can I?" she said as she placed the handcuffs around her wrist, "but I can hurt you a little," she finished and tightened the right hand cuff pressing against her burnt skin and smiled as Copy Cat winced in pain once again.

"Um, Nightshade, we have to go back inside," said Zatanna, Nightshade turned to follow them dragging Copy Cat with her until they reached the place they had used to come up to the roof. Zatanna went down first followed by Nightshade who slid down the hook's rope and then Superboy who was holding Copy Cat, once they were all on the ground, Aqualad offered to take Copy Cat to Belle Reve and took her from Superboy.

"Oh you guys are in for a ride, and not a fun one, just so you know," said Copy Cat as she passed the team with Aqualad holding her by the shoulders.

"Okay, if you ever get out of Jail, call me," said Kid Flash receiving a glare from Artemis. "It was a joke, babe," Copy Cat laughed at him as she walked by. Kid Flash picked up the strand of hair Artemis's arrow had cut off and stuffed it in his pocket. "Souvenir," he explained himself to a glaring Zatana. The team started to walk away, but Nightshade stayed behind, Robin noticed this and watched her from the corner of the room thinking he could see or hear something that would tell him what kind of person she was, but all Nightshade did was run her hand through her hair and sigh.

Mount Justice -11:00 am-

The whole team was gathered in the training room, waiting for Batman's orders when Nightshade walked in accompanied by Huntress, her steps reluctant and her face serious with a hint of anxiety.

"I believe you all know my partner, Nightshade; she'll be part of this team from now on, there was an incident and now it'll be safer for everyone if she did covert missions with this team," Huntress told them. Robin noticed the way Nightshade was looking directly at Batman, who was extremely serious and uncomfortable with her. When she finally looked away Aqualad held his hand out to her, and she shook it.

"You have blood on your suit," noticed Artemis, the whole team gathered around her and saw the wound that had re-opened from when Nightshade had lifted Copy Cat. Robin grabbed a couple of bandages and started to patch it up.

"Copy Cat scratched me, but I'm fine I'm a fast healer," she said after Robin finished even though she shuddered in pain after. She seemed a bit different from the first time they met her, but still there was something odd about her that he couldn't quite place.

"Welcome to the team" Aqualad said, putting aside the cocky attitude and the sarcasm Nightshade had been of great help in the mission and she could actually be a valuable team member at least that what they believed for now.


	2. Hide and Seek

Hi, so this is the second chapter, I do not own anything except my OCs read and review…..Oh and the _**Bold Cursive**_ letter means they are talking telepathically or on their comms.

January 29- Mount Justice -8:00 pm-

"So we get the night off, want to go somewhere Artemis?" asked Wally sitting on the couch next to her. She looked at him smiling, but before she could answer Robin walked in.

"I don't like her," he said out loud, Artemis and Wally turned to face him. "She gets in my way, is incredibly rude and has an awful personality," he finished.

"A little bit harsh there Rob, don't you think?" Wally told him.

"I know, but I'm just trying to communicate my discomfort so bear with me, why can't she just leave," Robin sighed.

"I think she is really nice, you just haven't talked to her, like really talk with her, plus you know she can't leave," said Megan as she and Superboy walked into the room. Still they all sat there listening how much Nightshade annoyed Robin. It had only been a couple of weeks since she had joined the team and the two of them where constantly fighting and getting under each other's skin. Zatanna and Nightshade walked in both wearing civilian clothes. Nightshade was wearing a black shirt and black jeans, black boots and a dark red jacket; she had a backpack on, and for the first time the team could see her dark brown, almost black eyes.

"Thanks for that Zatanna," she said, and then she noticed that everybody was looking at her. She turned around and walked into the kitchen pretending they weren't there.

"No problem, if you need me again just call," added Zatanna with a smile.

"You have brown eyes?" Asked Robin

"Umm, yes, what did you expected blood red eyes?" said Nightshade making herself a sandwich and dropping her bag on the floor. Her gaze didn't drift toward any of them instead she was completely focused on the sandwich she was making.

"So, what is your name?" Asked Superboy

"Sorry that's a secret," Nightshade closed the refrigerator door with her foot and took the first bite into her cheese and ham sandwich.

"You do know I could find out in a few seconds," said Robin and raised his wrist signaling his computer; Nightshade looked at him, took a deep breath and smiled making eye contact for the first time.

"I don't think you'll find anything, I don't even exist in the Justice League's files," The smile turned into a smirk forcing Robin to put his wrist back down and put his hand in his pocket. Wally raised an eyebrow; he had never seen Robin give up so fast. "Anyway I only wanted something to eat, see you later." Nightshade grabbed her things and was about to walk out when Black Canary pushed her out of the hall and back into the room.

"Where do you think you are going?" asked Black Canary.

"Uhm, I was going outside, but something tells me I'm not doing that anymore," said Nightshade looking away from Black Canary.

"You've missed the last eight training sessions, I'll make you a deal, beat me and you can leave, if you don't you stay here training until midnight," said Black Canary.

"Sorry to spoil your plans but I need the team," Batman informed them as he walked past them, Nightshade gave Black Canary a shrug and left after Batman. As they gathered around him Batman turned on the screen. It showed Solomon Grundy and Plasmus entering a nuclear plant.

"Since Aqualad and Rocket are taking care of other things, Robin, Superboy, Artemis, Miss Martian and Kid Flash I want you there taking care of Grundy and Plasmus, Robin you are in charge. Nightshade and Zatanna, I have other plans for you."

Gotham City North High School –8:23 pm-

"He is just doing this to piss me off," said Nightshade. Zatanna and walked up behind her, eyeing the room for anything out of the ordinary.

"I don't think so, I mean he wouldn't have sent us here to distract us or something," Zatanna said. Nightshade kept walking, opening door after door; she got frustrated every time she didn't find anything. After a long time of searching, Nightshade turned to face Zatanna who was looking at a list of students and their pictures; she saw the picture of a girl that looked just like Nightshade, but brushed it off as coincidence since the list she was reading was of the honor students, and by the looks of it Nightshade didn't spend a lot of time in school.

"Nothing here either, wanna get out of here?" Nightshade asked Zatanna who smiled in return. Just when they were about to exit the school a small explosion blew part of the front doors and sent them both flying against the wall. Nightshade was thrown against the lockers and Zatanna was thrown to the ground.

"Someone will have our heads for that," exclaimed Zatanna as she stood up back on her feet. Zatanna turned on her comm. _**"Zatanna to Robin, we might need back up, are you done with Plasmus and Grundy?" **_she asked.

_**"What are you calling them for?"**_ Nightshade yelled from the other side of the room.

_**"We'll be there as soon as possible,"**_ answered Robin. Zatanna pulled Nightshade to her feet and the two ran deeper into the school.

"What are we running away from?" asked Zatanna turning around the corner, following Nightshade's steps, who was way faster than her so she had a really hard time keeping up. Not like Nightshade cared she wasn't used to having someone other than Huntress with her and with Huntress it was usually her trying to keep up, so this was kind of refreshing for her.

"Not what— who, and I don't really know the answer." the lights flicked and turned themselves on. Blockbuster stood in front of them which didn't give her a lot of space to dodge so she moved away and crashed into the lockers while Zatanna just used a spell. Nightshade stared at him, trying to figure out what he was; then she remembered seeing a file about C.A.D.M.U.S explaining how Superboy joined the team and how Blockbuster had infected himself. Blockbuster punched the floor and the waves sent the girls in opposite directions. Nightshade stood up and saw Zatanna casting a spell.

She rubbed the back of her head. "This is the third time today, not good," she ran up to Blockbuster and kicked him across the face and then she kicked him on the side, Zatanna's spell threw him against the wall where Nightshade tried to stick a knife, but he moved away and Nightshade ended up stabbing the wall. Blockbuster punched Nightshade and she hit the wall, Zatanna helped to her feet and both girls ran out of the room with him following them.

"Any ideas?" asked Zatanna running just behind her.

"Oh look at that, I was just about to ask you," she said leaving Zatanna to roll her eyes.

Nuclear plant, South Gotham -8:23 pm-

While sitting on the top of the nuclear plant the team waited for Solomon and Plasmus. "The only thing here about Nightshade is her superhero name, age and physical characteristics, no background" Robin said to himself as he checked the computer on his wrist, which only made him more curious.

Kid Flash looked at him. "Maybe they didn't want anyone to know about her, remember what Huntress said about Nightshade screwing up or something, and by the way you should stop hacking the Justice League's computers dude." Robin glared and turned off the computer. As he did, they heard a crash and found Solomon Grundy breaking into the next reactor, followed by Plasmus. Artemis, Miss Martian and Superboy where the first ones to get to the ground followed by Kid Flash and Robin. Inside Solomon was breaking the walls to get to another room.

"What is he doing?" asked Artemis

"They are not the smartest of the villains; someone must have sent them here, the Light maybe?" Wondered Superboy. It made sense to think that way, after all they had been inactive, and maybe they were up to something new. Robin shook his head and opened a map of the place.

"They are trying to get into the center of the nuclear plant, but why, what is in there?" asked Robin, more to himself than to anyone else. Kid Flash looked at the map. "Miss Martian do you think you'll be able to get past them without being spotted?" he asked her. Miss Martian nodded once and as she covered her head with her cloak she camouflaged herself and went into the room. Just then Zatanna called Robin.

_**"Zatanna to Robin, we might need back up, are you done with Plasmus and Grundy?"**_ She asked, but before he could answer Nightshade cut in.

_**"What are you calling them for?"**_ She sounded tired and angry.

_**"We'll be there as soon as possible,"**_ answered Robin. He looked at the team then at Plasmus and Grundy. He started a telepathic conversation with Miss Martian, hoping they could leave soon to aid Zatanna.

_**"Tell me you found something"**_ He asked Miss Martian as he and the team dropped from the roof of the building.

_**"I did, there are a lot of chemical weapons here, maybe Solomon and Plasmus where sent here just to get them for someone,"**_ Miss Martian stated. Robin looked at Artemis and nodded; she nodded back and moved closer to the villains before throwing an arrow at Plasmus freezing part of his body. Both Villains turned to face them. Plasmus slammed his arm against the wall which shattered the ice into small pieces.

Solomon Grundy punched the floor and let out a raging scream that gave Artemis goose bumps. She shot another Arrow at Plasmus, this time freezing half his body. Superboy ran to punch him causing it to shatter, but Plasmus just regenerated himself. Meanwhile, Solomon Grundy watched Kid Flash run in circles around him; he was following with his eyes trying to smash him but he kept getting away of course.

Superboy kicked him in the face causing him to tumble to the ground with a loud thud. Miss Martian tied some metal beams around him. Plasmus let out a roar just when another one of Artemis' Arrows hit him. Miss Martian slammed him against the wall and Superboy Punched him, this time instead of regenerating, Plasmus escaped through the ventilation pipe.

"One out of two, not bad," joked Kid Flash, Robin glared at him and ran to the bio-ship followed by the team and directed it to North Gotham High School.

Gotham City, North High School -11: 12 pm-

The team ran into the school which was highly damaged, the lockers where torn, framed pictures where broken and littering the floor, and shattered glass was everywhere. They kept running deeper into the school until they found Nightshade and Zatanna in the gym with Blockbuster holding Zatanna against the wall and Nightshade about to throw some knives at him. Before she could do anything the team bust in and ran past her to attack Blockbuster. Putting the knives away and straightening her back she stood on the sidelines to watch the team.

"Wow, so you guys really do have some guts," she said, "and here I thought you were just the Justice League's shadow," she finished talking and started to watch the team kicking and using their powers to get Blockbuster to let go of Zatanna, but nothing seemed to be working. Robin was on the side trying to get a clear spot but Blockbuster noticed him and turned to attack him but Nightshade got in the way and pulled him out. The two of them ended up on the other side of the room and Robin was ready to go back but she pinned him to the wall.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked him, "you're injured," she finished looking down at his abdomen and the big scratch that had ripped his suit.

"I need to help the team, it's not like you get it, you barely know them" he explained simply trying to get up, Nightshade watched him trying to move and a smile formed on her face as she loaded the gun.

"You are so cute," she said pushing him back down on the floor "but, I have you covered," she said and walked over to the team, Robin watched her she had walked to the middle of the gym and aimed it at Blockbuster's arm; without hesitation she fired twice making Blockbuster let go of Zatanna and fall to the ground in pain. By the time they heard two shots being fired the team stopped attacking and carefully followed the trajectory of the bullet towards Nightshade. Zatanna was now sitting down right next to Blockbuster, the team dangerously close by and finally Nightshade was standing in front of them pointing a gun at Blockbuster.

"What is wrong with you, you could have hurt Zatanna, or us!" exclaimed Artemis, Nightshade looked up; she grabbed her gun and put it back in her belt and moved a lot closer to her.

"I didn't and I wouldn't have. I have pretty good aim though I must admit I can't see things that are very far, so there was a small chance. He is not dead I just shot him in the shoulder. The police should be here anytime soon," she said walking away towards Robin and helped him up and out of the school into the ship where Zatanna started to patch up his wounds.

"That was insane!" exclaimed Kid Flash with a smile on his face, Nightshade smiled back and shook her head. She looked at Zatanna, who nodded in a reassuring way, but she was still a bit shaky from how close she was to Blockbuster when Nightshade had fired, but she was right, her aim was pretty good. Nightshade looked at Robin and Zatanna for a little bit longer, they were smiling at each other and she felt something tightened in her chest but ended up dismissing it as nothing.

Mount Justice -11:30 pm-

"Good job," said Batman to the team when they walked in "Turns out Plasmus and Solomon where only a distraction, someone wanted to find Nightshade and now that they have I see no reason why you shouldn't go on missions with the rest of the team, but I am warning you, be careful. Now that they know you're with the team I expect more attacks coming," Batman looked at Nightshade, she looked at him for a while, before smiling at him and looking away. "Hit the showers."

After he left, the team went home or to their rooms with the exception of Nightshade and Robin. Nightshade went into the kitchen and prepared two sandwiches; she gave one to Robin and sat on the couch to eat hers. Robin put his on the table.

"I'm starting to think I was wrong about you," He said looking at her, Nightshade swallowed and looked at him from the couch; she extended her legs on it and rested her back on the armrest.

"Oh really? About what exactly?" She asked,

"I thought I knew how you worked but you're not only irritating, you're also reckless and to be honest I'm intrigued," he said as he grabbed a bite of his sandwich. She smiled and rolled up her sleeve the wound on her arm had completely disappeared, not even a scar remained it was as if it had never happened, on the other hand Robin had bandages underneath his shirt helping the wounds recover.

"Then I guess you'll just have to keep looking, Richard," she said getting up and walking out of the cave, leaving a rather surprised Robin behind, so many questions popped up in his head, like how did she knew his name, or what had happened to her wound, a wound that deep doesn't disappear in a month and it certainly leaves a scar, and so the strange feeling he was getting from her kept growing.


	3. Child Play

Well this is the third chapter, enjoy and I don't own anything other than my OC's

February 10 -Central City -9:00pm-

"What are we doing here again?" Kid Flash asked looking around.

"We are looking for a criminal," Robin answered as they walked through the tight hallway.

"Why?" Kid Flash asked again.

"Because that's what we do," said Artemis who was walking right behind him. "There have been some reports about things disappearing and people coming inside but never getting out," Artemis finished, Kid Flash swallowed.

"Actually they say It's the spirit of a girl that hanged herself in the factory a long time ago, she is said to have long blonde hair and big shiny blue eyes that could suck your soul," Said Rocket, Kid Flash looked at Aqualad asking for reassurance but he nodded covering Nightshade as she crept up from behind him and tapped his shoulder; Kid Flash was startled and jumped a little in surprise.

"She's Ghost Girl, one touch and you'll be out for hours. She'll keep your powers, and if you don't get them back by midnight she'll keep them forever. Although it's a lie that she is dead, she is very much alive. Nice touch with the hanging story though," Nightshade whispered, Kid Flash stared at her with wide eyes, and then he started walking faster.

"Guys stop it you're scaring him" said Zatanna shaking her head in disagreement.

"Another one of your freak show friends?" said Robin Nightshade's lip twitched a little but decided to ignore him, so she walked past him and started chatting with Rocket. Nightshade answered back with a gentle smile that Robin caught a glimpse of, he had never seen her smiling like that since she entered the team. Their recent conversation popped up in his mind and so he looked back to distract himself from the intrusive thoughts he had been having.

"I get this girl is like nine years old, but does she really need to hide in an abandoned toy factory?" Rocket asked Aqualad, he shook his head. He had been awfully quiet all day, more than usual, and Rocket was starting to worry about him. Just as they walked out of the hallway and into the center room with all the rusty machines and the dusty covered control rooms the lights that hung above them flickered and soon they couldn't see anything.

"Any ideas?" Kid Flash asked.

"Rocket give me some light" Said Aqualad, Rocket lit up the room using her powers and allowed them to see that the room was still empty, but Nightshade and Robin were nowhere to be seen.

"Is it safe to assume that Nightshade and Robin share a hobby?" asked Kid Flash, the rest of the team looked at each other without saying a word. The lights flickered back on and there was a small girl standing in front of the team, she fit the description perfectly, long blonde hair and big blue eyes except they had forgotten to mention the smell of rotten flesh and blood that reeked off of the girl.

"What are you all looking for?" asked a ghostly girl.

"Ghost Girl," said Aqualad, the girl moved closer to them and reached out to touch Kid Flash but he moved away. She then smiled and held her doll tighter to her tiny body, she flashed a creepy smile, and the smell of rotten flesh got stronger.

"So Nightshade told you about me, but where is she? I always enjoy playing with her," she asked, since they were unable to answer her, she charged at Superboy but Nightshade jumped down from the roof and kicked her into the wall.

"A shower, have you ever heard of one?" she said walking up to them while she dusted off her hands. Seeing how easy it had been for Nightshade to catch her off guard Artemis smiled and took out an arrow and pointed it to Ghost Girl.

"This is going to be too damn easy," she said and shot the arrow but before it could hit her, Ghost Girl moved out of the way and reached out to touch Superboy. As soon as she did he felt a strong electric shock run through his body that knocked him out. As fast as before Ghost Girl charged at Aqualad and by doing the same thing she took his powers too and left the team leader unconscious with the others a bit terrified.

"You were saying?" Nightshade mocked Artemis. Robin jumped down and looked at Rocket who was next to Aqualad trying to avoid Ghost Girl.

"Rocket, I need you to create a force field around you, and everyone but Artemis, Nightshade and me," Robin told Rocket who obeyed against her and the rest of the team's will that kept protesting under the force field. It didn't feel right to leave all the work to the three of them but Robin was right, they couldn't lose anymore teammates.

"So, what now?" asked Artemis looking at Nightshade, the only one that had fought her before; she thought about it for a while and when she was about to answer Ghost Girl with a Water sword and Superboy's force combined, attacked the team. Artemis moved to the side making Ghost Girl collide with Rocket's force shield; this made Rocket wince. Noticing this Robin kicked her away from them, Ghost Girl landed next to Nightshade who gave her a cocky smile.

"Shouldn't you go into the force field?" Ghost Girl asked Nightshade, her smile disappeared and when Ghost Girl reached out to her she moved out of the way and from behind threw the girl into a wall. That small thing had left her panting so she walked up to the opposite wall and rested her back against the wall and she now stood with her arms crossed over her chest, Robin and Artemis looked at each other then back at Nightshade a little worried.

"nightshade are you alright?" asked Artemis seeing that she was a little exhausted. Meanwhile Ghost Girl kept went back to hitting the force shield until Artemis pulled her away from them and pointed her arrow directly at her head, Robin was standing next to Artemis while Nightshade was still with her back against the wall.

"Why would you hit a child?" she asked Robin, her voice made him twitch.

"You are one messed up kid," answered Robin. Ghost Girl formed another water sword and charged it with electricity, she threw it at Rocket's force shield and it caused Rocket to fall to her knees.

"Robin, get this over with and fast," said Rocket struggling to keep the shield up. Artemis shot an arrow at Ghost Girl that exploded before it could reach her sending the child flying into the wall.

"Great a nine year old girl is kicking our butts," Kid Flash said. Zatanna glared at him, they turned around when they heard Aqualad and Superboy groan in pain.

"Are you alright?" asked Rocket, Miss Martian kneeled beside them and helped them up.

"Let's go help them," said Superboy, suddenly determined to not sit back and watch.

"But our powers," objected Miss Martian.

"We'll manage," ordered Aqualad as he got up. With that Rocket removed the shield. Miss Martian lifted an old shelf and threw it at Ghost Girl but the girl dodged it and started hitting them one by one using Superboy's strength.

"Look who came to play," said Nightshade leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest, still watching the fight from the outside.

"Why aren't you helping!?" Zatanna asked.

"I am, in my own way," she said and moved away from the wall, she walked up to Ghost Girl and punched her away from the team. Slowly and clumsily she then started to move back drawing the kid in, it wasn't until it was too late that Ghost Girl realized what Nightshade was doing. She had separated her from the rest and placed her just under Robin who jump down just behind her and used a round-house kick forcing her to the ground and placing a black collar around her neck. What had happened, Aqualad guessed, was that when the team decided to come out Robin had climbed to the roof waiting for a chance to strike, since Nightshade was the only one who wasn't doing anything she was able to see him and motioned him to move further away. And now that Ghost Gil's powers had been neutralized, both Aqualad and Superboy had gotten their powers back.

"Why, Why do you always have to ruin my fun, can't you see I have nothing better to do?" She said. Rocket looked at Zatanna and rolled her eyes, Nightshade picked up the doll that was left on the ground and ripped it open, inside there was a big sharp knife with blood stains all over it.

"You know I might have forgotten to tell you what happened with the people that came into this place," Said Nightshade leading the team through the back door, as they opened it they saw the most horrifying scene. Corpses hanged naked like pigs in the freezer of a butcher's shop, some of them were just piled up in the corner but the most horrifying thing was that most if not all of them were half eaten. Of course, how else would a kid survive so long without leaving the place? Nightshade closed the door and threw the doll at Kid Flash

"Souvenir," She said, Kid Flash caught it and looked at it.

"Not sure if I want it"

"What scared of a little girl?" Rocket teased him. She turned to Aqualad. "Do you have your powers back?"

Aqualad nodded, and grabbed the doll, and then he turned to Nightshade. "Why was she here?" he asked.

"As if I know why," she explained. Aqualad held the doll in his palm and then he handed it to Nightshade who put it away and went to the cave with the rest of the team.

February 11-Mount Justice- 2:34 AM-

The team walked into the cave, Black Canary and Huntress greeted them. Miss Martian and Superboy went straight to their rooms, followed by Zatanna after she had said goodbye. Even though most of them wouldn't be getting enough sleep after a scene like that.

"Well I guess I'll go home now," said Rocket, then she looked at Aqualad. "Why so quiet? You want to talk about it?"

Aqualad replied with a faint smile, and the two of them went outside. Aqualad leaned against the rocky wall and sighed, Rocket stood in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"it's really nothing, I was just thinking if we should trust Nightshade or not, I means she has been of great help and then again she has the Light after her. There must be a reason why," he said, determination fed his words. Rocket agreed with him still something inside him told him to wait a little more before he could trust Nightshade. Inside, Robin and Nightshade were about to walk out when Black Canary walked up to them.

"So, Nightshade, ready for training?" she asked

"It's two in the morning, the only thing I'm ready for is a long nap," she answered, and then she saw the face Huntress was making. "Or maybe an hour of training?" she corrected. Robin put his bag down and walked up to them.

"I so want to see this," he said noticing Nightshade's glare.

"I'll see you in five," said Black Canary as she left with Huntress. Robin walked up to her and stretched out his hand and pointed to her pocket, Nightshade looked at it.

"The doll, why did you keep it?" he asked, Nightshade took it out and held it in front of him, Robin stretched out his arm to grab it but she put the doll away once again.

"I have a place for it, you can call it _my _souvenir wall," she told him and walked away. This time Robin grabbed her shoulder, which felt hot at the touch, and turned her around, he wasn't going to let her go, she was up to something and he knew it.

"Ghost Girl said you should be inside the force field, and you were barely participating, I'm sure you have something to do with that kid, just who are you?" he asked The intense angry look on her face told him he was going too far and he should let go. But he didn't so she shoved him away walked to the training room, he walked behind her, before entering she turned around and looked at him directly in the eyes.

"what? Not interested in finding out about it yourself?," she asked and walked inside. "I'm going to get my butt kicked, aren't I?" she said as she entered the training room, Black Canary nodded. Robin saw Nightshade smiling and a chill ran down his spine, he didn't trust her and that half smile that never reached her eyes couldn't fool him; He turned away and left the room. Outside, Huntress placed a hand on his shoulder and told him to follow her back inside the training room. They watched for a while as Nightshade received some kicks and how she defended and attacked, her moves reminded him of Batman in the way that they were so clean and direct, no hesitation.

"I know Nightshade can be a pain sometimes, her attitude and her enthusiasm are all wrong, but I believe she has a reason to be the way she is, just like you, and everyone else," she said, Robin looked at Huntress. "If she actually fought the way she is used to, Black Canary wouldn't be able to lay a finger on her, I should know I trained her," she finished.

"Then why doesn't she, she is fighting the same way she fights on every mission," he told Huntress.

"Nightshade values her energy and time too much to waste it, but she will give it her all when she needs to. Just make sure you are on her good side when that happens," said Huntress as she got up to leave. Robin nodded, but at this rate he wasn't sure he would be able to do that. He looked at his hand, the hot sensation he felt on his hand when he touched her hadn't disappeared. It was unusual, her temperature was higher than normal and just when it hit him Nightshade fell to the ground; Black Canary stood there confused as to what had happened when Robin rushed to help her.

"She has a fever," he explained as he touched her forehead just to make sure, Huntress moved him away from her and lifted her carrying her out of the room.

"I'll take her home," she said, this made Robin feel worse, how long had she had that fever for? Did she fight Ghost Girl like that? If so that could explain why she had been panting during the fight and why she barely moved. He couldn't help but wonder as he watched her being taken away by Huntress.


	4. Double the Trouble

So here's chapter four. Two new characters are introduced, and Robin gets a little jealous.

March 2- North Gotham- 12:00 AM-

"How do you even know she is here?" Wally asked Robin as they looked around the skate park, why hadn't he thought about it before? He had seen her with a skateboard and he had left with her to Gotham a couple of times, there weren't many skate parks in Gotham, he thought then he looked at Wally.

"Yeah, I mean this place is very Nightshade-ish," he explained simply because he knew that if he told everything he had thought about before coming here Wally would think he was obsessed and he didn't need another person to think that way. Wally looked around, no sign of a brunette, short girl, but then, over the side of the part he spotted a girl that looked a lot like Nightshade and he told Robin. They snuck up behind her and tapped on her shoulder.

"What?" She asked turning around slowly, she had an English accent, but the moment she saw Robin and Wally her voiced changed from annoyed to a more girly tone. "Sorry confused you with someone else; I thought you were my brother, or my best friend, they always sneak up on me." When she turned both guys saw large blue eyes and long wavy brown hair that fell on her shoulders caressing her tan skin covered with an 'I love New York' shirt accompanied with light ripped jeans and black converse.

"Yeah, we thought you were someone else too, sorry," Wally said. Just as he spoke Nightshade walked up to them, she had two drinks, she handed one to her friend and she popped the other one open. Nightshade looked at Robin and then at Wally, rather than mad she looked surprised, it was a first.

"What are you two morons doing here?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest; and now we are back to mad, thought Robin regaining his composure.

"Well, we were just, umm, you know skating?" He said, hoping he had sounded convincing enough. By the look on Nightshade's face and her friend's giggle he hadn't.

"You are funny, I'm Skye," the English girl said. "I guess you are Jade's friends, well then maybe you know my brother Lance, he is Jade's boyfriend." Jade elbowed Sky's rib at her last comment. "I mean, she won't admit it but they certainly like each other."

Robin looked at Nightshade, she was blushing and another chill ran down his spine. Nightshade looked a little uneasy about having them mixing with her personal life, it was obvious from the first day that she didn't want anything to do with them. Oh this is just great, Skye you're an idiot, she thought bringing her palm to her face. She was blushing not because what she was saying was true, but because for some reason she didn't want Robin to know. She looked at Wally to avoid Robin's gaze, he was holding back the laughter but he didn't after a while of uncontrollable shaking he gave up and started laughing.

"Jade! So that is your name!" exclaimed Wally as he laughed. Skye looked around a bit confused but trying to ignore that last comment she looked away from the group when she saw Lance walking up to them. He then started walking faster when he saw Jade surrounded by the other two.

"Hey, I've been looking for you all day, where were you?" Lance asked, also with an English accent. Wally stopped laughing once Lance showed up, he was a muscular, big guy, with side bangs and jet black hair, his eyes were as black as his hair and dressed all in black just like Nightshade, but he wore a sleeveless shirt allowing his muscles to show. Lance then wrapped his arms around Jade and laid his chin on her head and that was when Robin realized how tall he was.

"I'm Lance, you are?" he asked looking at them in the eyes, his cold stare made Robin want to turn away, Nightshade cut in as if on cue.

"Guys this is Lance, Skye's brother," Nightshade said as she unwrapped his arms from her waist. Robin stared at Nightshade, then at Lance; he couldn't believe those two had something going on, Lance acted as if Nightshade was the only girl around, but Nightshade seemed distracted, cold and unwilling as always. With quick steps she walked forward grabbed their arms and pulled them aside where the siblings couldn't hear them.

"Did you two idiots followed me here?" she asked, obviously angry, her hands on her hips and her eyes shifting from Robin to Wally waiting for an answer they knew they couldn't give her.

"No, we went to other five parks before this. We just wanted to know more about you since we are teammates, that's all," said Wally when they received a call from Aqualad.

"Guys Batman needs us at the cave, now," He said. Nightshade turned to look at Lance and Skye, and with a big sigh she walked up to them to say goodbye. Lance with a playful smile grabbed her hand not wanting her to leave, after seeing this and without hesitating, Robin barged in and pulled Nightshade out.

"He said now," explained Robin as he pulled Nightshade by the sleeve not daring to touch her hand, she turned back to see Lance looking at the ground and running a hand through his hair. Skye waved goodbye to Nightshade and turned to face Lance.

-Mount Justice-1:43 PM-

"So far, all evidence points that the injustice league has settled another base, this time is away in another country, we believe is so they can rest before striking again. Your job is to gather information so the justice league can infiltrate the facility; it's a recognition mission only. Do not attempt any attack, we all know how that went the last time," he said looking at Robin, Nightshade let out a small, but mocking giggle.

"What do you know?" Robin asked sarcastically, getting close to Nightshade, she moved closer so her nose was a few inches away from his.

"Oh, I know that you got your butt kicked by The Joker and that the justice league had to help you guys because it was apparently too much, and not to mention Aqualad had to awaken Doctor Fate," she said, Robin backed away a few inches but then moved closer; he kept glaring at Nightshade who was glaring back and after a few seconds of awkward silence Kid Flash snuck in between the two pushing them away from each other.

"So now that we have established that Nightshade and Robin are in fact a couple of nine year olds, we should get going," said Aqualad and pushed both of them away into the hangar. The team started to board the bio ship when Nightshade spotted a strand of brown hair from behind some boxes. She walked closer, careful enough not to make a sound and popped her head over the side of the boxes where she found a boy with jet black hair and a red and black suit and a girl with a yellow and blue suit, they both wore matching masks. Nightshade leaned behind them and whispered, "And I thought I was bad at hiding," she said, "What are you two exactly doing here?" she kept whispering, she knew them; they were Lance and Skye playing superhero. Nightshade raised her head and saw that everyone was already inside so she sneaked the siblings in the bio-ship and told them to stay put, once inside she rushed to her seat and fastened the seat belt.

"What took you so long?" asked Artemis a little suspicious, Nightshade ignored her question and turned to look at Aqualad.

"Where are we going?" she asked

"Ukraine, they believe that's where the base is settled, in a place called the Tunnel of Love," said Aqualad, Nightshade started laughing ignoring the glares from the team, Miss Martian started the bio ship and they took off.

-Ukraine- 5:43 PM- Tunnel of Love

The team walked inside the Tunnel, it was full of green plants tangled in a way so they would form a tunnel over an old railroad, aside from being refreshing, it gave off and emotional aura. Superboy looked around, admiring the place when he felt Miss Martian's hand grab his, he smiled and the two of them kept walking like that. Robin looked back at the rest of the team Artemis and Kid Flash were walking together just like Miss Martian and Superboy; He looked over at Nightshade, she was distracted lost in thought so she didn't notice the rest of them. After a while of walking they heard a sound and stopped, all of them but Nightshade who kept walking as if she hadn't heard anything, Robin caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder turning her around forcing her to stop.

Just then a loud thud followed by a scream made them to turn around, they saw that a plant had grabbed Zatanna's leg and was pulling her away from the team, Nightshade took out her gun and shot the plant so it would release Zatanna, another one popped from behind Nightshade and grabbed her, Aqualad used his sword to break her free but soon enough they were surrounded by more those plants. They moved around searching for someone to grab, the team was busy cutting and ripping them and Nightshade was wasting her bullets shooting them. While Zatanna was busy casting spells one of the plants grabbed her again and dragged her away. Superboy ran up to help her letting his guard down allowing another plant to gab his foot, the rest of the team was surrounded and even though they all wanted to help them they stayed put. Artemis ran out of arrows and one of the plants wrapped itself around her chest and pulled her away with the other two into the walls of the tunnel, Kid Flash was running around when he tripped over with Aqualad and a plant grabbed them both. The remaining four tried to stay on their feet but they were exhausted, Nightshade had only one bullet left, so she decided to use her knives. After a while a green mist filled the place and the four teens passed out.

When Nightshade opened her eyes and saw what looked like a destroyed building full of flowers and more of those plants covering the concrete walls. On the center there was a big throne like chair and behind it a huge plant that seemed to be controlling all of the other plants. A finger pressed against her chin forced Nightshade to look up, she saw Poison Ivy looking into her eyes.

"You hurt my babies with that gun of yours," she said and got closer to her, Nightshade glared at her but didn't say anything. Poison Ivy squinted her eyes a little and examined the girl from head to toe. "Haven't I seen you before? Oh no, my mistake, the girl I'm talking about would have put up a fight," she smiled as if remembering something and then backed away from Nightshade. She looked around, the rest of the team was already conscious and they were all being held by those plants. _**So this is Poison Ivy's lair, not the injustice league's, **_said Miss Martian through telepathy, she was right; the injustice league had nothing to do with this, Ivy had decided to take a few days off and had chosen Ukraine.

"_**We are screwed aren't we?" **_said Kid Flash, Nightshade nodded. The grip on the plants tightened around Rocket and she started gasping for air, Nightshade started kicking the plant and then she remembered she had a Knife in her pocket; slowly she used it to free herself. Poison Ivy saw Nightshade on the ground and started sending more of her plants to attack her. Nightshade threw he knife at the plant holding Rocket which released her, she gasped for air and once she was able to get up she started to help the others out.

"You little kid, I'm going to let my babies take care of you," she said confidently and sat on the throne and watched from a safe distance. She watched as Nightshade struggled to break away from the grip of a plant as this one tightened around her. She struggled for air as the rest of the team was already fighting to get away from the plants.

"What are you going to do?" yelled Robin, shifting his gaze from Nightshade to Poison Ivy, just then he saw that Nightshade had stopped moving, "Nightshade?" he asked softly, nothing happened. A red beam of light hit Poison Ivy throwing her to the opposite wall, the team looked in the direction the beam had come from and saw a boy in a black and red body suit, and a girl in a yellow and blue body suit both of them had matching masks covering their eyes.

Poison Ivy stood up and with a hand gesture, plants tried to tangle the teens, but the boy blasted them again, the girl ran up to Nightshade and from her hand a small lightning bolt forced the plant to untangle her. Robin watched as Nightshade fell into the girl's arms still not moving, the girl released the rest of the team and they rushed in to help the boy. The girl stayed with Nightshade, although Robin was fighting with the rest of the team he paid close attention to what the girl was saying.

"You knew this was going to happen didn't you?" she said as she rested Nightshade's head on her lap. She kept talking, "That's why you let us come along; you never do that. My brother is right, you are so reckless, and we worry so much about you." Robin recognized the accent; it was the girl that was with Nightshade in the morning, so the other boy must be Lance. After a while of fighting, the team was exhausted while Poison Ivy wasn't even sweating, Lance looked at his sister and nodded; Skye dragged Nightshade to a corner and left her there to join the fight.

"Who are you two?" asked Superboy

"I'm Red Shot, this is Livewire, Nightshade's old friends," he said hoping that would explain why they were there, but just in case he added, "she called us here." Aqualad was satisfied with that answer, it was not the time to ask questions. The fighting went on, and now with Livewire's lightning powers they had an actual chance. Those lightning bolts ripped up the plants the moment it touched them. On the corner Nightshade opened her eyes and saw the team fighting with the help of Red Shot and Livewire, she tried to get up but her chest still hurt, broken rib she thought the moment she couldn't move; so she just sat there, her back on the wall feeling useless. Every single part of her body sting, she was unable to move and her head was about to explode, suddenly the team was thrown against the wall. Robin and Red Shot landed next to her.

"Are you alright?" asked Robin she nodded and started to use the wall to lift herself up, getting back up, Red Shot leaned beside her and helped her to her feet, "I need to get close enough to that plant in the center," he continued.

"Bombs?" she asked, Robin nodded. The rest of the team had already gone back to fighting the plants getting in the way of the one in the middle. Nightshade limped next to Superboy and Aqualad, "I need you two to cover Robin while he places the bombs," Aqualad turned to face her.

"Don't you think we've tried that?" he said, "as long as Poison Ivy is standing we won't be able to get through. Nightshade looked around; she walked up to Artemis and Zatanna and whispered something in their ears the girls nodded. Trying to walk faster with the sharp pain in her chest Nightshade pulled out a knife and threw it at Poison Ivy; Artemis who was behind her jumped out and kicked Poison Ivy away, immediately the plants stopped attacking the team and started attacking the two of them. Artemis and Zatanna covered Nightshade as she fought Poison Ivy. Robin started to place the bombs, he watched Nightshade getting hit by Poison Ivy, but not fighting back. He found it strange, but then he realized that Nightshade could barely move.

"What are you trying to do? You are in no condition to fight me," Poison ivy mocked her, Nightshade smiled just as she punched Poison Ivy, "you are that girl, the one the Joker always bragged about, what a pity we had to meet like this."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm just a distraction," said Nightshade as a plant grabbed her and threw her against the wall; Red Shot jumped over Poison Ivy's head and created a wave that caused the bombs Robin had placed on the plant to explode. Unfortunately Nightshade was close to Red Shot when that happened so the blast knocked her unconscious again as if her being slammed against the wall wasn't enough.

March 3 -Mount Justice- 10:00 AM-

Nightshade opened her eyes and found herself in the cave's infirmary with Red Shot resting on a chair next to her bed. Robin walked inside to check up on her, or so she thought but he walked directly to the chair on the other side of the bed and sat down. The chair had a blanket and a pillow; it looked like he had slept there, just like Red Shot. She cleared her throat and both teens jumped up from their chairs.

"I'm terribly sorry; I should have looked around before doing that," Said Lance, Robin glared at him.

"Yes you should have, she could barely get up and then you go and blow her against the wall again," with that comment the fight between the two started, Nightshade sat there listening to the two of them yelling and arguing. She let out a small laugh covering he mouth with her hand, both boys stopped fighting and turned to look at her. It was probably the first time Robin had seen her laughing so freely.

"I think she hit her head too hard," said Robin, Lance nodded as their eyes met and then they looked back at Nightshade who had stopped laughing to give them a glare and changed her smile into a straight face. Robin noticed the sudden mood swing and couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head. Lance had to leave so Robin stayed alone with Nightshade, the atmosphere in the room had turned a bit tense. Robin stretched his legs and arms while he watched Nightshade sit down on the bed.

"Hey, you did good back there," he said

"Well that's a first," she said surprised at the compliment, but they both laughed which lightened the atmosphere. They kept talking for a while, laughing and joking around; suddenly it was as if they had realized who they were talking to and they fell silent again. Nightshade turned around and started to fall asleep, Robin accommodated himself in the chair and started to doze off as well.

"You do know you don't have to stay here, right?" she asked turning around to face him, Robin smiled while he looked at her, Nightshade was taken aback, it was the first time she had seen him like that and she now felt her face hot as if she were blushing so she hid her face under the covers.

"Are you crazy, I'm not going to leave an idiot with a broken rib and a concussion alone," he said accommodating himself in the chair when he felt a pillow hitting his face. He let out a small laugh and finally managed to fall asleep.


	5. Lost and Found

-March 16-Mount Justice-12:00 P.M-

Nightshade poked Robin's arm, this made him turn around but it didn't wake him up, since he didn't wake up, she poked him a few more times, and when that didn't work, she slapped him. Robin got up startled and noticed Nightshade sitting on top of him, his cheeks got hot, but Nightshade must have taken it as a sign of the mark left from the slap because she didn't comment on it. He and Nightshade had fell asleep on the couch the night before right after getting back from a mission, of course he had slept on the floor but not because he wanted too actually if he would have gotten to the couch sooner the one sleeping on the floor would have been Nightshade, but because Nightshade had taken over the space on the couch and didn't budge an inch he was pushed onto the floor.

"Get off," he said resting on his elbows, Nightshade looked down at him and moved to sit on the couch "Why are you so aggressive?" he asked stealing a look of a messy haired Nightshade as he fixed his.

"Batman needs you, I'll go get my things to take them home, see you," she said, but he grabbed her arm.

"I'll go with you, I'm sure he won't take long so wait, okay?" he said, Nightshade nodded a little surprised, but he really wanted to know where she lived so he could keep a close eye on her and find out more about her. Batman had gathered the whole team except for Nightshade in the room.

"I need you to keep a look out for anything suspicious that happens around Nightshade," said Batman as he and the team gathered around the computer, "The light has been more active than usual and we have reasons to believe that all of the new villains are working for the Light. This could be because they are looking for Nightshade and are trying to get her back," he finished.

"So why are you telling us this now, and why isn't the one person that should be hearing this here?" asked Kid Flash. Batman looked back at the screen of the computer, Nightshade's face popped up.

"There is no record of Nightshade from before she teamed up with Huntress. Now the Light is looking for her and the answer lies in that time period, so keep an eye on her" he said and watched the team share confused and unsure looks, "That's an order," he finished and left the room.

-Gotham City- 3:00 P.M-

Nightshade, Robin, Superboy and Rocket, dressed in civilian clothes walked around the city while going to Nightshade's house to drop off her stuff. Nightshade looked back at them and coming to a stop she turned to them, "you didn't have to come, seriously," she said; they were helping Nightshade carry some stuff she had left at the cave back to her house.

"Yeah, you really shouldn't have," said Robin a little irritated, Rocket and Superboy looked at each other and smiled, and then they smiled at Robin.

"Don't worry, we won't be staying long," said Rocket giving him a smirk while Superboy placed his hands on his hips.

"But you can stay here and finish your date," he said, Robin glared at them, but when Nightshade didn't say anything, they noticed that not only she had spaced out, but she had her ear buds on so it was probable she hadn't listen to them to which Robin sighed in relief.

"Hey, do you guys mind, If I stop somewhere first, I just remember I have to do something," she said, they all nodded and silently followed her until they reached the city's orphanage, there she approached the woman behind the counter with a gentle smile.

"Hi, is Danny here?" she asked the woman who greeted her with such kindness every Saturday, the woman smiled and made a phone call, in a matter of seconds, a smiling kid rushed through the door and threw herself at Nightshade, luckily the girl was light and small and the only thing she did was force Nightshade to take a couple steps back to regain some balance while holding the girl.

"Jade! I missed you so much," said the little girl, she had messy brown hair and light brown eyes, her built was delicate and she looked around eight years old. Nightshade was smiling while talking with the girl, it was different from her usual smile, and this one seemed to be real and honest.

"Danny, you're killing my back. Look what I brought you this week," said Nightshade taking out of her pocket a phone, "it's my old phone, but I thought you could use it to call me whenever you wanted to," she said, the girls face lit up with excitement and she threw herself at Nightshade again. But her enthusiasm was short lived since a woman walked through the door and called Danny over.

"I'll see you next weekend, call me if you need anything," Danny nodded and left, the young woman stayed behind and approached a smiling Nightshade.

"Jade, May I ask you something?" she said, Nightshade nodded, "Why do you come here week after week? I mean, it's not that we don't appreciate everything you do for her, I am just curious," The woman finished, Nightshade's smile faded away for a few seconds, then she faked a big smile, there it is, the smile that never reaches her eyes, she looks prettier with the other one, thought Robin and after realizing what he was thinking he shook his head.

"Oh, I knew her sister, before she and her family were killed. I feel like I own her sister that much," she explained, the woman, satisfied with the answer nodded and walked away. Nightshade walked up to the door and turned to look at the old woman, "well, see you next week," she said and the woman nodded, and the group walked out the door, all of them a bit shocked.

Who was that girl?" asked Rocket

"Her family was murdered by an arsonist, the house caught fire and the only one that made it out was Danny Williams. The arsonist hasn't been caught," said Robin, Nightshade nodded in agreement a little irritated at Robin's habit of looking things up. After a while Superboy and Rocket left, so Nightshade and Robin were all alone walking down the street, they turned left and walked through the park that lead to the other side of the block. They looked up when they heard a scream; a woman had just had her purse stolen by a man that was now running in Nightshade's direction. Nightshade kept walking as if she wasn't going to do anything but just as he ran past her she stuck her foot out and he tripped, Nightshade picked up the woman's purse and gave it to her smiling sweetly. The woman, even though she was shaking and could barely make out words thanked her and walked away. Nightshade pressed her foot on the man's back making him groan in pain while Robin grabbed her hand and pulled her away just when the police was walking their way.

"You're not as cold hearted as I thought, another interesting thing," He said as they reached the end of the park. Tired they sat on the bench and talked for a while, it was already late and the day had started to fade away. There on the bench they could see all sorts of people walking by and going home and for some reason, even after all the rough times they had been through, they felt very comfortable with just the two of them. And during the three hours they sat there talking, Robin had the feeling he was seeing a completely different side of Nightshade.

"Hey, what do you think about the team?" he asked her, Nightshade looked at him for a while before answering him.

"I think you guys are really stupid," she looked at his shocked face then smiled a little, "but you are alright, I guess after all you really are putting yourselves on the line for the people and that's something I find admirable and a little bit enviable." She finished blushing a little and trying to hide it by turning away from him.

"I like this side of you," he said before realizing what he had told her, quickly he turned away from her, and suddenly the two of them seemed to be unable to look at each other anymore. While looking to the other side Robin watched as Lance walked closer, he sighed and slid down on the bench. Lance leaned in to take a close look at Robin, as if he was trying to recognize him; Nightshade looked up and saw Lance staring at an uncomfortable Robin.

"What is it Lance, you like him?" she mocked him for the intense look so he stopped, "he's a friend I ran into today, you remember him from the park, right?" she asked, he nodded.

"I was going to drop by at your house, I was walking around near some shops and found a necklace for you so I bought it," he said and handed her a small bag, she opened it and took it out, and suddenly it was as if Robin was not there anymore; he put the necklace around her neck and tied it on the back as Nightshade slowly raised her hair. Lance turned to look at him and stuck his tongue out; how old is he, five? He thought and he looked back at Nightshade, there it was the half smiled that Lance didn't seem to notice, or didn't want to notice. The three of them walked up to the bus stop, Nightshade walked away from the post to make a call.

"So you were just walking around huh?," said Robin to Lance, the guy looked down at him; now that Robin was standing next to Lance he felt really short, even thought he had gotten a bit taller recently, Robin reached the height of his shoulder, Meanwhile Nightshade reached the height of Lance's chest. Robin would rather stand next to Nightshade who was only a bit shorter but it was still something.

"What jealous?" he said, Robin shivered at the word 'jealousy' that would imply that he had feelings for her and that couldn't be, it was impossible; after all it was Nightshade the one they were talking about. A car honked attracting their attention and Nightshade rushed to the car, Robin looked in, the driver wore sunglasses and had brown hair, he motioned Nightshade to get inside and she pointed at them, the driver nodded and she opened the back door. Nightshade closed the door after everyone was inside and sat down on the seat next to the guy, as he drove away and removed his glasses to show light green eyes. Looking at them from the rearview mirror he said,

"Lance how are you, you haven't dropped by in a while," Lance nodded and gave him a half smile.

"I got tired of beating you at video games," he said they both laughed.

"Shitty kid," he said and then spotted Robin, "I'm Mark, her big brother," said Mark adjusting his mirror, and looked at Robin, "I know you; you are Bruce Wayne's adopted son. I was an intern at your fathers company for a year before they hired me. I remember seeing you at a company's party," he said excited, Robin remembered him, Bruce usually praised him but he never would have thought he could be Nightshade's brother, they were so different. Not only the way he looked, but their personalities were all wrong.

"You remember him too Jade, you came with me," he said, Nightshade placed her hood on her head and slid down on her seat, so that was why she was so familiar. Thought Robin, he remembered the only girl around his age was always sitting at a table alone and only got up to grab something to eat or to go to the bathroom. After a while of driving they arrived at Nightshade's house, Robin got off and stared at the big fancy house. Mark opened the front door and greeted someone following him they walked inside Nightshade's house; it was big and somewhat luxurious.

"Jade is that you out there, you left early today," a woman popped her head out the kitchen door, she had long blonde hair and light green eyes, she looked young, but old enough to be Nightshade's mom. Nightshade waved and that was when her mother spotted them.

"Oh, you have a new friend, where did you meet him?" she said, Nightshade shook her head. Robin smiled and followed Nightshade inside; the house was just as amazing as it looked from the outside, it was neat and nicely decorated. A man sitting on a chair turned to face them, he had light brown hair and Nightshade's dark brown eyes.

"He is a friend from another school," she explained before her father asked her anything, her mother nodded sweetly and walked up to her husband and they started chatting. A girl walked into the room, she looked the same as Nightshade's mother except she had blue eyes, another girl popped her head in, and she had the same blue eyes, but long, wavy blue and purple hair.

"Oh my god, your friend is so cute, I'm Grace, and this is my twin sister Rachel," said the blonde happily hugging Robin, the other girl rolled her eyes and then quietly shook her head and waved at Lance. Nightshade let out a small laugh as Grace was all over Robin, they both looked at least three or four years older than Nightshade. A boy walked in a few seconds later, he had light brown hair and blue eyes; he walked up to Nightshade and wrapped his arm around her waist and pushed her into the sofa and held her tight.

"Noah, let go, I can't breathe," she said as the boy tightened his grip and then let her go, leaving her gasping for breath, Robin noticed Nightshade was the only one with black hair; maybe she dyed it, he thought watching her mother walking up to them.

"Call me Kate, and this is my husband Charles. My son tells me you are Bruce Wayne's son, it must be nice, and you seem very well educated," she asked Robin, she shook his head, "is my daughter causing you trouble, she can be a bit handful," Nightshade rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I think I know how to handle her" said Robin, her mother let out a nice giggle and left the room with her husband leaving the teens in alone.

"Here, I'll introduce you, first is Mark, he is 24, then there is Rachel and Grace, they are 20, then it's my brother Noah, 17. Guys this is Richard Grayson," she said, Robin gave them a small smile and Nightshade dragged them to her room. It was spacious, inside there was a big sofa with a T.V screen and some videogames, behind them there was a queen sized bed and a nightstand with some pictures and an alarm clock. On the side of the room there was a closet and a door that probably led to the bathroom. Robin and Nightshade sat on the sofa, but Lance sat in between them and wrapped his arm around Nightshade, he pointed at the video games and Robin nodded. Nightshade rolled her eyes and walked out of the room to get something to drink.

"Want to bet something?" he asked Robin, he nodded again. "How about, the one who losses, has to leave," he said wanting to get rid of him as fast as possible, Robin hesitated.

"You are acting like a little kid, I'm not interested in her," he said to Lance.

"I think you are wrong there, that time at the park you looked jealous to me. But I'm not going to let you have Jade," he said and smiled forming a red ball in his hand, Robin moved closer to him and took out a birdarang, there it was that word again.

"Oh, now I feel insulted," he said and both of them sat down on the floor to play the game in front of the screen, Nightshade walked in with the three dinks and watched them play for two hours until she started to fall asleep on the sofa. A few minutes later Lance got up raising his controller in victory, Robin was going to get up and leave when he noticed Nightshade sleeping on the sofa shivering a little, so he grabbed a blanket that was folded on the chair next to him and placed it on top of her. Lance watched from a distance as Nightshade opened one eye to see Robin finish placing the blanket on top of her, but she didn't move, nor did she said a thing. Something inside him started boiling, she would usually brush him off or say something sarcastic, but not with Robin. He went to the bathroom for a moment and went he came out Lance was on top of Nightshade kissing her. Nightshade pushed him softly away, her eyes had widened, but she got up from the sofa. She looked at the surprise in Robin's face and without hesitating pushed them both out of the room.

"I think is time for you two to leave," she said and walked them to the door. There she stood silent for a while, waiting until Lance decided to leave, "I'm sorry you had to see that, I don't know why but I don't want you to misunderstand so I'll just explain. Lance and I—," she was going to continue, but Robin cut her off.

"I don't really want to hear it, whatever problem you have, is none of my business, so please don't tell me," he said, knowing that the real reason was that his chest felt tight and he didn't want to stay any longer in there. Nightshade nodded and slammed the door shut behind her. Robin walked away, his hands in his pockets and occasionally looking back at Nightshade's silhouette as she walked around in her room until she finally turned off the light.

-Wayne Manor- 10:00 P.M-

Alfred followed Robin to his room and stood on the doorway until he acknowledged his presence. "Is something troubling you, young master?" he asked, Robin groaned and threw himself on the bed, "I see, girl trouble," finished Alfred, Robin sat up and stared at him in disbelieve.

"What makes you think that?"

"Only a woman could make a man that angry, I know from experience. So who is it, someone from school, or someone from the team perhaps?"

"Team, but Bruce can't know about this," he said as he sat up on the bed, Alfred pressed his finger over his lip, "It's the new girl that joined the team a couple months ago, she is driving me crazy, I don't know what is going through her head," he blurted out, Alfred moved closer.

"Could it be that you like this girl, young master?" at the sound of the word love Robin jumped up from the bed.

"I hate her, I don't love her, I don't even – no, besides, there is that Lance guy that is madly in love with her," He said and groaned again as he sat back down on the bed, he wasn't making much sense now.

"You are in trouble young master, big trouble, love can be both a blessing and a curse if it's not right," said Alfred walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

"I know," whispered Robin as he threw himself into bed. He fell asleep.

A small girl with light brown hair extended a hand at him, he took it and the girl pulled him into a tent. Inside his parents were doing flips in the air, the girl was looking at them, her face full of astonishment and admiration, and when her head turned to look at him she had a wide smile. The girl pulled him out of the tent and into another one, the hall of mirrors; she walked him up to the middle of the tent, where all the mirrors were looking at the center. He woke up and sat down on the bed startled not knowing why he remember something that happened so long ago.


	6. A day in the Life of

March 20- Gotham City High School- 8:00 A.M-

Jade rushed through the now empty hall of the school, she made sure to jump over the rubble that had been sitting in the hall next to the entrance since her fight with Blockbuster and she hurried around the corner almost losing her balance but made it in time just to have her teacher shut the door in her face and crashing into it. She could her the laughter inside as the teacher reopened the door and let her in, Jade rubbed her nose and walked up to the empty seat on the third row in the middle of the class just behind Skye.

"Ms. Collins next time please just arrive on time," said the teacher as he opened his big book and turned the pages, the small chuckles could still be heard so she placed her hoodie over her head and laid down on the desk, "take the hoodie off Collins, you will not be sleeping in my class," that was it, she thought covering her face with her hands as the class burst into laughter. After the two hours that felt like an eternity Jade walked out of the class only to be tackled by a tall blonde with a squeaky voice.

"Jade! Haven't seen you in so long!" she said as she laid on top of her, Alex greenwood, Jade had met her on her fist day and since then the girl had stuck around her. Mainly because she thought Jade was amusing to watch.

"Alex, you saw me yesterday, now get off!" she said and stood up once she had gotten off, again people where staring at her, she tried to go unnoticed but it seemed impossible. "Why are you always jumping at me?" she asked as the blonde walked with her to her locker, Jade shoved the books in and took others out causing some of them to fall out.

"Because you amuse me, you are so clumsy it's impossible to stay away," she said as she helped her put the books back in the locker. The girls then walked to the next class and after that one they met with Lance to go to the other one and when the morning was finally over and it was time for lunch Jade pulled out her phone to find seven missed calls. And all of them were from the same person, Robin, she tried returning the calls but none of them went through. Once inside the cafeteria she tried again, but still no luck, so she grabbed her lunch tray and walked up to her table. On the way there one of the girls at a table pulled out her foot and made her fall to the ground. The truth was that she had seen the foot and that it was incredibly easy to avoid but she just decided not to, just like she decided to crash into the door which in both occasions had turn out to be more embarrassing than she thought.

"Sorry, didn't though you would really fall for that one," said the girl, Alex helped Jade up and gave her a glare in the process.

"Jade, the outside world is a dangerous place for you," said Alex, "and now with all the superheroes and villains, how do you plan to get by without dying," she kept making fun of her. Lance and Skye looked at each other with a worried look trying to go along with Alex. Suddenly her phone rang and as soon as it did Jade rushed out of the room bumping into the girl who had tripped her and avoiding the crowd that was coming in. she walked up to the front gate and answered the phone.

"Do you have any idea of how many times I have called you?" asked Robin on the other side of the line, clearly angry with her.

"A couple?" she said and prepared herself for the next scold.

"I don't have time for this, Nightshade I need you in Central City in less than an hour. The Flash and Kid Flash are having trouble with Captain Cold, Professor Zoom and Mirror Master," he said.

"Where is the rest of the team?" she asked hoping someone was closer than her.

"Artemis and Aqualad are down in Gotham fighting off the Electrocutioner, Miss Martian, Superboy, Zatanna and Rocket are up in the Hall of Justice talking with their mentors after being called up there. Happy?" he asked, on the background there was a loud noise and a scream so Robin ordered her one more time and hung up. Jade sighed and ran up to the side of the school, hopped on Lance's motorcycle and drove off without noticing that the parking lot was directly in front of the cafeteria and that Alex and a bunch of other people had seen her.

"Is that the same Jade that ran into a door this morning?" Skye and Lance nodded, "the same one that got her shirt caught on the door and ripped it two days ago? Or the one that thought the window was closed and leaned on it only to fall to the ground?" they kept nodding until Alex ran out of embarrassing scenes. "Holy shit, she just got more interesting," she finished.

-Central City- 1:15 P.M-

Kid Flash stood in the middle of the main plaza in Central City with Mirror Master and Captain Cold, he was busy dodging their attacks and at the same time trying to keep them away from The Flash who was fighting Professor Zoom. Kid Flash was getting tired and he kept looking around for anyone that might come, since Robin told him he was going to get back up, but it had been an hour since then and there was no one around. Captain Cold raised his ray gun and prepared to shoot Kid Flash when his gun was shot out of his hand, the group looking in the direction of the bullet only to see Nightshade walking up to them. She put the gun back in her waist and stood next to Kid Flash.

"Hey, do you really need my help with this clowns?" she asked, Kid Flash nodded while panting, "fine, I'll take Captain here, you take the other guy," Captain Cold looked at her an swallowed before pulling out another gun. Nightshade jumped at him and the fight started between the two of them. While they were doing that Kid Flash started to try and figure out which one of the copies was the real Mirror Master, but everyone he tried vanished in thin air. On the other side of the sidewalk Nightshade was beating the crap out of an already terrified Captain Cold when he pulled out a small gun from under his sleeve and pointed it at Nightshade's arm causing it to freeze. She stepped away from him and looked around, The Flash and Zoom were running around the place while Kid Flash had finally found the real Mirror Master and was now fighting him.

"This is going to be painful," she said as she crashed her arm against one of the brick walls of the building leaving some pieces of shattered ice tuck on her hand that she pulled out carefully and then looked at Captain Cold, "for you of course," she said and he watched as the wounds in her hand slowly closed and left no mark. "Let's keep this between us," she said before punching him across the face. Captain Cold started to back away from her, but she grabbed him and slammed him against the wall and placed the black collar around his neck. Nightshade turned to look at what Kid Flash was doing and that was when she saw him grabbing the freeze gun from the ground and started shooting it at Mirror Master until he was finally able to hit him and freeze his feet not allowing him to move. Once he did he placed the collar around his neck and handcuffed him next to Captain Cold.

"You know I think that was pretty cool, how I stopped him and all," said Kid Flash leaning down against the wall next to the villains. Nightshade raised an eyebrow, just from behind her Flash and Zoom came running and the gush of wind caused both teen to step back a little, they followed them with their eyes until Kid Flash grabbed the freeze gun and shot Zoom, but this one was too slow and it almost hit The Flash.

"What are you playing at Kid?" he yelled at him without stopping. Nightshade pulled her gun out and looked at Kid Flash.

"I need you to lead them to that building over there, can you do that?" she said, Kid Flash nodded and ran off, he got in the way of Zoom and forced him to turn but towards the wrong side, it took him a few minutes before he could get Zoom and Flash running over to the point Nightshade had told him. Suddenly he heard a shot and Zoom fell to the ground, uninjured but pretty shocked, Flash took the chance to place the collar around him and take him and the other two into police custody.

"Kid, has anyone told you not to mess with guns? You could kill someone," said The Flash as he made his way back to the teens and extended his hand, "I'm Flash, I'll just assume you are Nightshade, the girl that Batman has been ranting about for the past few months," he said as Nightshade shook it and nodded.

"I just did what was necessary, you're welcome by the way," she said, Flash smiled.

"A rather feisty girl aren't you? I like it," he said and turned to look at Kid Flash and took him away while Nightshade rolled her eyes, "have you ever thought about changing the blonde girl for this one?" he whispered wrapping his arm around his shoulder.

"Are you insane? No!" he said and pushed Flash away, "Robin would kill me, but that's not the point, I love Artemis," they both turned around to see that Nightshade had left and was now riding away in the motorcycle. Flash placed his hand on Kid Flash's head and gave him a little push before walking away.

-Gotham City- 1:15 P.M-

Artemis prepared an arrow and aimed it at the Electrocutioner that was now wreaking havoc in the south part of Gotham, she stood on top of a building looking right down at him. She pulled the string and shot the arrow that turned his attention to her. Artemis jumped down from the building and prepared another arrow, the Electrocutioner laughed and walked up to her. She released the arrow and this one exploded just before it hit him.

"You little girl, I don't want to deal with you right now, I'm looking for someone else," he said and charged his gloves, sparks could be seen making Artemis step back.

"How about me? Do you want to deal with me?" said Aqualad coming out from behind him and striking him with his sword. The Electrocutioner punched the floor and released a wave of electricity that made the teens fly into the buildings. Aqualad was the first one that got up, he changed the sword for a hammer and used them against the Electrocutioner armor once again but it had no effect. Instead he grabbed them and looked at Aqualad.

"You know water is an excellent conductor of electricity," he said and charged his gloves once more and released an electric shock into Aqualad's body that forced him to pull away from him "I'm invincible, you unworthy trash can't beat me," he kept saying. Artemis shot another arrow, this one got stuck on his back and started beeping before it exploded on his body. Still nothing happened, they had been at it for a long time and nothing was working and they were running out of time. Aqualad punched him across the face while Artemis kicked his legs, but he grabbed them and shocked them once again. The sound of a motorcycle distracted the three of them as they watched Nightshade coming their way and slowing down next to them.

"Aren't you going to help us?" asked Aqualad, Nightshade looked back at the Electrocutioner and then back at Aqualad.

"I think you got it, I'm late for school, so bye" she said and drove off.

"Hey!" Yelled Artemis, "Nightshade! Get back here!" she watched as she waved at them and accelerated, the Electrocutioner jumped at the sound of that name, but shook it off after he watched the motorcycle leave. Aqualad caught him off guard and punched him into a wall a few time before he fell to his knees, that was when Artemis took out an arrow and threw it at him, this one also beeped but it didn't explode.

"Is this really all you can do?" he said and tried charging his gloves but the energy had been drained out of them, "What is going on?" he wondered out loud and tried once again to charge them, when he realized what the arrow did he looked up to see Aqualad kick him across the face unconscious. Both teens fell to the ground exhausted and recovered for a while before heading off to the Hall of Justice where the rest of team and the Justice League was waiting for them.

-Hall of Justice- 2:45 P.M-

Aqualad and Artemis walked in, it didn't took them long to realize they were the last ones to arrive, but that didn't explain why neither Robin nor Nightshade were there. The whole Justice League was sitting across from them, not only the main members, most of the others where there including Huntress. After a while Wonder Woman got up from her chair and looked at the team and the League carefully before speaking.

"I guess most of you are wondering why you have been called up here, well we have an issue that involves all of you and it's the following," she said and on a giant screen behind her Nightshade's face popped up, "you may or may not know her, she is Nightshade, Huntress' protégé. Right now all we know about her is that she came to Huntress asking for training with no previous records, and to add to that she is being hunted down by The Light for reasons that are unknown to us." she said, Batman stood up and looked at Wonder Woman.

"What are you trying to say?" he asked.

"I'm saying that someone with that kind of shady past shouldn't be allowed into the team, even less have any contact with any member of the Justice League, she presents a threat and should not be included. I can't believe you agreed with her so fast and without talking with us first," she said, Flash raised his hand as if asking for permission.

"I understand your point, but don't you think that if she wanted to kill them she would have done so already?" he said, "I mean, today that girl helped us with Zoom, Captain Cold and Mirror Master, and I'm telling you she is good. She could have even killed me and get away before anyone could have done something, I don't see why she has to wait to act on it," he finished talking and winked at Kid Flash who buried his face in his hands.

"It just proves my point that she shouldn't be taken lightly," said Wonder Woman, Huntress stood up from her chair and looked at her right in the eyes.

"I don't think anyone in this room that has seen Nightshade has taken her lightly. I have been with that girl for two years now, and never once has she proven to be a threat to anyone but herself, now I ask you to stop this nonsense and leave the girl alone. It's already enough that she has to deal with The Light, she doesn't need the Justice League going after her too," at this point Huntress had raised her voice and she only noticed it when Batman cleared his throat.

"Flash and Huntress are right, Nightshade has helped us and saved our lives on more than one occasion and in the short time that she has been with the team she has earned some of our trust," said Aqualad "we may not know why the light is after her or if she has any connection to them, but if it is like that we will be ready to take them on," he said, Wonder Woman looked at Batman who nodded in agreement.

"Very well, then I'll be ready to clean up after you when we learn what that girl really is," she said and stormed out of the room, leaving Nightshade's picture on the computer so that everyone could see her and remember her clearly.

-Gotham City High School- 2:50 P.M-

Jade had just finished parking Lance's motorcycle when he, Alex and Skye came out of class. Alex threw herself at her and hugged her tightly but Skye pushed her out of the way and hugged her too so now both girls were clinging onto her from each one of her arms. "Don't go jumping onto bikes and drive away, it can be really dangerous! With your eye hand coordination and reflexes you could have died," said Alex, actually Jade felt a bit relieved she hadn't find out anything as well as insulted for the comment.

"Don't leave me alone again with Alex, she's annoying and too stupid to understand anything," Skye complained as Alex glared at her. As they tried to walk towards the entrance while Lance pulled the bike around to take his sister home a group of girls rushed towards the entrance and started squealing.

"Oh my god, what is someone from the Gotham Academy doing here?" a girl said, "I saw him from the window, he is really cute too," she said to her friend as they both ran past them. Jade swallowed and started walking faster, her mind going through the endless possibilities, but something inside her told her that it could only be one person and when she made her way through the crowd her thoughts were confirmed when she saw Richard Grayson standing at the entrance of her school in full school uniform and surrounded by squealing girls. He caught her eye, grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the school, they walked past Lance who watched them walk away until they were out of sight.

Robin dragged her out into an empty park that was just around the corner, "look, I know I didn't answer when you called first, but that's no reason for you to come all the way here, I—" she said but was interrupted by him when he leaned in and kissed her.

"I have something important to say to you, and I've been thinking about it for a while now, but I only realized it not long ago," he kept talking really not saying anything, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that the reason why I didn't want to hear anything about you and Lance is because I was jealous and I only realized it after the thought of you two together kept me awake all night. I mean I like you, and you might not be the easiest person to get along with but somehow I want to be with you right now," he said it finally. Jade looked at him shocked, she had never thought Robin of all people would say something like that to her. At first she didn't know what to say, but then she started thinking that it might be a good idea to start a relationship, then again they were teammates and it would be complicated if they broke up. All sorts of things went through her mind but in the end she grabbed his collar and pulled him in for a kiss.

"Took you long enough," she said and smiled at him, Robin smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her.


	7. Dark Beginnings

Hope you guys enjoyed the last chapter, this is kind of like a first glimpse into Nightshade's past and her relationship with huntress. Thank you so much for reading, if you like it leave a review.

March 25-Coast City-4:50 A.M-

"Oh come on you guys are dating, but you are still acting like before," said Kid Flash as he, Artemis, Nightshade and Robin sat on the rooftop of Ferris Aircrafts off on the side of the city. Robin looked at Nightshade who was covering her face with a hood and laid on the floor sleeping, after all they had been woken up and called in the middle of the night for a stake out in another city not very close to Gotham. The rest of the team was down on the side of the building keeping a look out from the outside, "I mean really, we all knew this would happen eventually I guess we just expected more of a change in the atmosphere," he kept going until Nightshade grabbed him and pulled him down.

"Kid Flash, I haven't been sleeping well lately, now if you keep this up I will cut your throat and dump you into that river," she said and pushed him back making him fall on his butt. Kid Flash swallowed and grabbed his throat covering it from Nightshade.

"Robin, control your girlfriend," said Kid Flash once more before Nightshade stood up, pulled out a knife and pushed him against the ground pressing the knife against his throat, "guys, I don't think she is playing, hey a little help here," he kept pleading until Artemis shut him up.

"You two stay quiet, I hear something," she said and suddenly the roof they were standing on crumbled and the four of them fell through. Once they were able to stand up they examined the room, it was one of the hangars, but it was empty except for a big plane that sat in the middle and one of the corners that had an incredible amount of screens that showed every corner of the facility. It was true Green Lantern had said this part of Ferris Aircrafts was rarely used, but if so, then this hangar was extremely well kept. Robin called the rest of the team in and in a matter of seconds the whole team was looking around, Robin busy with the screens, Kid Flash running around the building while the others just checked what they could inside the plane except for Nightshade that had decided to lean against the wall and sleep instead of working. She gave them one last look before sliding down against the wall and placing the hoodie over her head.

It wasn't until a creaking sound startled them, the door of the hangar opened and Psimon walked inside with a solemn air around him. He looked around the room and examined each one of them including Nightshade that still sat down on the floor sleeping. "Are you done prying into my business?" he said and walked up to the team, a piece of the roof came flying in their direction but Superboy intercepted it and it broke down the middle. Psimon turned to face Miss Martian, but instead of trying anything he smiled and suddenly things started to float around the room. Some went in Rocket's direction but they were deflected by her force fields and flew towards Nightshade landing right next to her, this woke her up and she was still cranky. She removed her hood and walked towards Psimon, dodging the incoming debris. Meanwhile Zatanna was casting spells to deflect or destroy the pieces but more kept coming her way so Superboy and Aqualad stood with her and crushed them.

Robin still found himself hacking on the computer to see if it could give him any information on what Psimon was doing in a place like that, "good luck trying to find anything, I don't use that kind of thing, it's just a security system. Everything is in my head," he said and sent a rock flying towards Robin, but he managed to move out of the way. Artemis prepared and arrow and just as she shot Nightshade attacked Psimon. "I knew you would do that," he said and redirected the arrow towards Nightshade and stuck it in her leg making her scream in pain. Without thinking it twice she pulled it out of her leg and threw it away; the bloody arrow landed next to Robin who watched as she limped towards Psimon. Nightshade had never fought him so she probably didn't know that Psimon could read their minds and their movements, so anything she was about to try he already knew. She kept trying to hit him, but every time Psimon counterattacked and finally sent her flying against the wall.

"Small fly, you kids really can't do anything to defeat me," he said "I guess all of you must go to sleep," he said and suddenly the amount of noise inside their heads got so overwhelming all of the team members but Miss Martian fell to the ground unconscious. "It's just you and me again Martian, so far my only worthy opponent," he said and moved towards her and threw a giant piece of the plane at her, Miss Martian blocked the piece by deflecting it and sending it back in his direction. Psimon smiled and both of them went into their own special fighting place where she didn't have to worry about hurting anyone from the team, the fight went on as usual between them. Miss Marian was using her power to cause Psimon to draw back and as always she was winning until Psimon started losing control of his thoughts and was forced back to the real world, the sudden pull left Miss Martian unconscious. When Psimon looked around to see what had happened to him he saw Nightshade standing up staring at him with her back on the wall.

"That was harder than I thought ," she said and walked up to him, Psimon tried to read her mind but an interference sent him back, "You know who I am don't you?" she said and walked a bit closer, Psimon noticed that she wasn't limping anymore and that the wound in her leg was completely gone.

"Ah, but of course, Nightcrawler was it? Though I have heard nothing but rumors," he told her and once again tried to clash a big piece of the plane against her, but Nightshade moved away only leaving a few small cuts up her arm that disappeared in a few seconds. "I assume you being here is no coincidence, what is it that you want with me?"

"I know you worked with The Light before, but I don't really care what you do I'm just trying to find someone that might be with them," she said, Psimon looked at her a little puzzled, "A girl, black wavy hair, green eyes and her powers are very similar to yours," she finished talking and was now grabbing Psimon by his collar.

"Oh her, I have no idea if she is still working for them or if she's still alive for that matter," he said looking directly into her eyes.

"Psimon, don't make me crash your precious head against the wall," she said, her hand tightening around his collar. Psimon tried to break away but the interference in her mind was still present.

"Deary, if you go back you won't be able to leave. Is that what you want?" he said and since she kept staring at him he continued, "She is still alive and well, but I'm afraid she is no longer the girl you knew, now I don't know what you are and why I can't read your mind, but your friends are about to wake up, do you really want them to see you like this and have you explain everything?" he told her, Nightshade started to put him down, but as if suddenly changing her mind she reached out and hit him knocking him unconscious. She let go of him and dropped him on the floor then returned to the place where she had been standing and waited for the rest of the team to wake up and take Psimon into custody.

"You know, something really weird happened while I was fighting with Psimon, he stopped fighting me and started fighting himself, as if there was something inside him that didn't allow him to concentrate," said Miss Martian as she and the team walked out of the hangar, Nightshade walked out last and as she turned off the lights of the hangar she had the feeling someone else was inside the building, but when she checked again there was no one there.

"Nightshade?" said Zatanna when she stayed back, "is everything okay?" she asked, Nightshade looked back once more and shook her head before catching up with the team. By the time they reached the Bio-ship she had completely forgotten about the limping, but Robin hadn't and when he was about to ask her she placed her head on his shoulder and fell asleep.

"See? This is the kind of atmosphere I was talking about," said Kid Flash as he watched the two of them sleeping on each other. "Now should I wake up Nightshade first and have her hit her head with his or Robin and freak him out," he wondered looking at the couple sleeping soundly while holding hands.

"Wally, you're dead meat if you do that," said Superboy.

"I agree, don't wake them up," said Rocket as she pulled out a phone and took a picture, "okay, you can die now if you want to," she finished. Kid Flash looked at them for a while and turned around in his chair.

"Nah I don't feel like it anymore,"

March 27-Gotham City- 9:46 P.M-

Nightshade was going around Gotham's rooftops as if searching for something, she walked up to the next building, then the other, and another until she found herself on top of an old warehouse off to the coast of Gotham. She walked along the roof and jumped from the side; all its windows were broken and the door was old and rusty. Nightshade pushed it aside and slowly made her way into the warehouse where she found it empty and full of dust, extending her hand out she brushed it against the wall until she found the light switch and in a matter of seconds the room was filled with flickering lights. Nightshade looked around once more, now with the lights on she could see what was in the room, old computers with shattered screens, some furniture that was beaten up and mostly broken and finally a surgery table that sat on the side of the room. Nightshade brushed her hand against it, picking up the dust that was covering it and bringing back old and unwanted memories.

Like the piercing pain in her arm and the constant smell of purifying alcohol; and how to forget about the smell of burnt skin. The memories played over and over in her head as she walked deeper into the warehouse, the screaming seemed so real and the laughter. That unforgettable laughter haunted her mind, she kept walking until she found small cell like rooms with small windows that let you look outside into the water next to the building. She pictured a small girl on the tip of her toes trying to look over at the water and the people that seemed so far away. She shook the memory away and decided to turn around and walk out of the building, next to the door stood Huntress who had come in from the other side of the building as if waiting for Nightshade to show up there. They stood across from each other neither of them was moving, neither of them looking away until Nightshade started walking forward going past Huntress only to be stopped by her.

"How is it that I knew you were coming here?" she said placing a hand on her shoulder looking down at her, Nightshade shook her off and kept walking, "if you do anymore of this, the Justice League will be the one going after you," as soon as she said that Nightshade stopped and turned around to look at Huntress.

"Why would they?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Wonder Woman is convinced you are not trustworthy and honestly you may have given them reasons not to trust you, like this for example. You think they don't know? Right now all eyes are on you. And you may have gotten away from The Light, but you have seen the Justice League, they don't play around," she finished. Nightshade looked about, it was in that abandoned building that she had spent five years working for The Light, but it was in that abandoned building that she had become what she was now. Of course Nightshade wasn't going back with them, right now she had one clear goal and either way they had long ago left that building; it was all for the pleasure or the horror of reminiscence that she had ended up in that part of town. Huntress got close enough to Nightshade to be able to wrap her arm around her shoulders and take her away from the building.


	8. Secret s Out

Thank you so much for the support you have given me. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

April 20- Mount Justice- 11:00 A.M-

It had been a month since Nightshade and Robin had started dating and since it was her birthday Robin had decided to take her to a movie and then a nice picnic in the park and in the evening they would probably go out for dinner and enjoy the day together, of course that had not been possible. Instead of having a good time, Robin had gotten there late and she got angry because the movie was too early, later at lunch she got angrier when he had spilled some food and stained her shirt and they were now walking together but not really talking to each other. That was until they passed a small store that sold paintings and posters. Nightshade stopped in front of the store and pulled Robin back.

"Hey look you are in one of the posters," she said pointing at a poster in the corner, the whole store was filled with superhero posters and that one was pretty much hidden inside. Robin looked at her and she was smiling to herself so he leaned in and kissed her before walking away from the store with Nightshade's arm wrapped around his arm. Robin reached down to grab something from his pocket, but Nightshade interrupted him, "You know, about me, there is something that I kind of have to tell you," She started, "you see when I was younger I used to—" she was interrupted by her own thoughts, Maybe this is not the time to tell him, maybe when we have been dating longer, she thought.

"What is it?" he asked as they sat down on a bench; when Nightshade sat down Robin laid down his head on her lap, surprised Nightshade reach down to pat his head and started playing with his hair.

"You know what? Never mind, it was nothing important," she said, trying to pull her hand back but Robin grabbed it and placed it under his cheek, he played around with her fingers trying to see how they fit together.

"This is mine now and I'm not giving it back," he said holding her hand up, Nightshade let out a small laugh and leaned in to kiss him. They walked around the park a little more before receiving a call from Aqualad telling them to go back to the cave.

"You do know you'll have to let go eventually," she said as they walked into the cave where they found the team lounging around. Their boredom was obvious and there was nothing to distract them so Superboy and Miss Martian where talking in the kitchen with Aqualad, while Artemis and Kid Flash sat down on the floor in front of the couch since Rocket and Zatanna were sleeping on it. They didn't seem to notice them so Robin and Nightshade walked up to them and as they were about to sit down when Skye rushed towards Nightshade. Robin saw her and out of instinct he let go of her hand and let Skye tackle her to the ground.

"Happy Birthday!" said Skye as she threw herself at Nightshade making her lose her balance and bringing both of them down missing Artemis and Kid Flash by an inch. Nightshade gasped for breath as she tried to get away from Skye's grasp.

"Happy birthday Jade!" they all said and instead of helping her get up they turned their attention to Lance whom was holding a nicely decorated box.

"We brought cake for you to eat," he said and placed it on the counter before walking up to Skye and pulling her away from Nightshade. Robin eyed him carefully, noticing this Lance pulled her in for a hug before letting go glaring at Robin.

"How old are you now?" asked Aqualad.

"Sixteen," she said and then looked at Robin and smiling walked up to him and wrapped her arm around his neck, "I just realized I'm older than you! That means I have certain authority over you," she said and tightened her grip, Robin managed to release himself and smiled.

"You're just a few months older, don't get all excited, but happy birthday anyway," he said and started looking for something in his pocket when the lights on the cave started flickering red.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert," the alarm kept buzzing, "Security breach, locking all doors," the team rushed to the entrance portal and got in fighting position. A girl stepped out; she had long black hair, a pale skin tone and light green eyes and she looked hurt, badly. Nightshade stared at the girl in shock, and started to back away a little, Aqualad was the only one who noticed.

"What is going on?" he asked glaring at Nightshade, she changed the expression on her face and dropped her guard but didn't answer the question.

"I'm Camille Brooks, the Light is after me and I need your help Night, I heard you were here and I don't have anywhere else to go," she said panting and walked closer to the team, and it was only then that they noticed the blood trace she was leaving behind. Aqualad stepped forward but he was stopped when Nightshade placed her hand on his chest and pushed him lightly as she walked past him. She wrapped her arm around Camille and allowed her to lean on her ignoring the big blood stain forming on her suit.

"Wait a minute, It says here that you are a convicted criminal for various offences including murder and robbery," said Robin after checking her name on the computer.

"I know, but I wanted to change, just like Skye, Lance and Night did, so I sneaked out, but the Light found me and they tried to kill me but I escaped. I know Night did the same so I thought I could come here," she said while wincing in pain and shaking a little. The team looked at Lance and Skye and then at Nightshade who was still standing there, not bothering to look at them and instead focusing on Camille, her hair covered her face so it was impossible to tell what expression she was making.

"What do you mean?" asked Aqualad again.

"Not now! I'll tell you everything you need to know after I treat her wounds," said Nightshade finally looking up at them, she was more concerned than angry while Camille looked sicker and paler. She walked the girl to the infirmary and placed her on the bed, Nightshade took out a bunch of bandages and purifying alcohol. She ripped open her clothes and over the wounds she poured the alcohol and patched it up with the bandages. "It's nice to see you're still alive," she said over the uncomfortable silence, "I've been asking around for you," thinking about her last encounter with Psimon.

"It has been a while right?" said Camille lying down on the bed, "about this, thank you," she said and drifted off in a deep sleep. Nightshade walked out of the room and back to where the team was, they were surrounding Lance and Skye, but the moment they heard her coming they all moved away and avoided eye contact. Like kids that knew they were doing something wrong.

"I thought I told you I was going to explain everything once I was done with Camille," she said looking at Aqualad and getting in between the siblings and the team.

"Very well, go ahead then" he said and suddenly all eyes were on her.

"Lance, Skye, Camille and I used to work for the Light. We did the small things they didn't feel like doing, like robbing a bank or breaking into a house to get something they needed, stealing documents and such. We got tired and came up with a plan to run away so while we were out on a mission to rob a bank everything went wrong and Camille was left behind," she said, but then started a more detailed explanation.

-Flashback- Gotham City- three years ago-

Two teens sat down on the ledge of the building in front of the Gotham City Bank, the boy was constantly looking at his watch then he would turn his head in the direction of the bank. He repeated this a few more times before giving up with a big sigh. On the other hand, the girl was busy looking down at the city, the lights and the people seemed to be coordinated in her eyes and she let her mind drift away until the sound of steps startled the two of them. Two girls walked into the roof, one of them dropped two large, empty bags on the floor and they both stepped into the light. One of them had short black hair and light green eyes, the other one had long, waist length, dark red hair.

"Why were you two siblings sleeping?" the read-headed asked, they looked at each other before answering. She look intimidating, and rumors said she was, and after a while of being around that red-head they called Nightcrawler they had confirmed she was as intimidating as she looked.

"Red Shot fell asleep first," she said with a heavy British accent as she stood up from the ledge and stepped onto the roof. The boy did the same and followed his sister taking a spot next to the read-head.

"Livewire was daydreaming the whole time, don't listen to her. Either way you and Camille are the ones that are late," he said with a less obvious accent and picked up one of the bags, "now, how do you want to do this?" the girl reached down to her hip and pulled out a grappling hook that reached the bank.

"See you on the other side," she said and slid down the rope of the hook, Red Shot gulped and started to make his way to the other side, Camille flying down with Livewire right beside her. Once they were all there Livewire sneaked in from the back, while the others went in through the window of the second floor. Livewire made her way to the security room and used her electricity powers to disconnect all the cameras and alarms. Of course they knew the moment they set foot in the bank the silent alarm had gone off and they only had a few minutes before the police arrived. The guards were not a problem for them, they were done in a few seconds and made their way to the vault. Red Shot blasted it opened then he and Nightcrawler took the money and placed it in the bags as fast as they could while Camille stood outside keeping a look out.

"Guys, I hear sirens," she said popping her head into the vault just as Livewire made her way towards them. The doors burst open and the police ran around the building looking for them. Nightcrawler dropped the full bag of money and slid it underneath a shelf, Red Shot did the same and prepared to face the police. As soon as they found them the teens were outside the vault ready to fight, Nightcrawler standing in the middle of them a hand on her hip and another one dangling freely on her side.

"Whoever you are, you are all under arrest," said a younger version of James Gordon, Nightcrawler gave him a smirk and slowly walked up to him but before she could reach him she was attacked by other police officers. The other moved and they fought them and one by one the officers fell to the ground, Red Shot used his energy blasts to take out a large amount of cops from the right with Livewire taking the other out with lightning. Nightcrawler combined hand on hand combat with her knives, on the other hand Camille was rather busy trying to fight them in hand to hand combat until a batarang hit her on the side when she saw this Nightcrawler hid in the shadows away from the Batman.

Batman jumped out from the shadows and pulled Red Shot away from the group of cops and slammed him into the wall, "Talk, who are you working for?" he asked, but when Red Shot didn't answer he slammed him one more against the wall. Pissed off Red Shot blasted Batman away from him and waited until he got up before attacking again, this time Batman moved away and circled him making him shot Livewire while aiming at Batman. With that Livewire fell to the ground unconscious. Camille tried to get in the way but she ended up being hit by Batman and thrown into a wall leaving her just like Livewire. Now only a few cops, Batman and Red Shot remained on the room; that was until some of the cops started falling to the ground, but when Batman turned to look there was no one there.

"Wrong side Batsie," said Nightcrawler as she stuck her knee on his face, he threw a kick but the girl blocked it and returned it. Similar fighting style and stance, he noticed. He threw some batarangs and she returned some knives, Batman tried to catch her but the girl just kept slipping away from him. The fight went on and each one had only managed a few hits including Red Shot's occasional interruptions.

"Who are you? And who sent you here?" he asked, the girl ran up to him and thinking she was going to kick he prepared to block but instead she pulled out a knife and stuck it in his shoulder, pulled it out and finished with a kick.

"I would love to stay and chat, but you showing up wasn't part of my plan and to be honest you out do me," she said, Batman watched from the floor as she took one of the bags that were underneath the shelf and walked out, Red Shot closely behind her with Livewire on one shoulder and a bag on the other hand. She had placed the knife back in her belt making sure she didn't leave anything behind, anything but Camille that still laid unconscious on the floor. As soon as he could stand up he ran after the teens only to find that they were long gone and without any trace to follow them, leading him to a dead end. The cops that went before him had also lost track of them and returned to the station to report their dead partners.

Inside the bank The Joker and Vandal Savage stepped out of the shadows and stood next to Camille, The Joker leaned down and looked at her face, "hehe, did you see that? Batman couldn't find her in the shadows. I guess the name Nightcrawler is not just for show. That girl actually escaped from you. See you should have left her with me," he said to Vandal Savage who turned and glared examining the amount of blood and corpses that covered the floor. "Hey, no need to be so serious I'm also pissed I didn't see it coming," he finished.

"They really did leave, I don't really mind much for Livewire and Red Shot, but Nightcrawler was my masterpiece. Well at least one of them didn't manage to leave," said Vandal Savage as he turned to look at Camille. Camille was awake, she just hadn't been able to move out of sheer terror. She was so afraid to open her eyes and see that the group had abandoned her and that she was now surrounded by psychopaths, but she finally opened her eyes.

"Oh, this is going to be fun, I always enjoy a good hide and seek game," he smiled and it was the most disturbing thing Camille had seen in all her life.

On another part of the city Red Shot, Nightcrawler and an unconscious Livewire where now resting on top of the Wayne Enterprise Tower. They looked around and when they didn't saw any sign of Batman they started to relax. "I can't believe we got away with it," said Red Shot placing his sister on the floor who had just started to regain consciousness. He looked at Nightcrawler lying down on the floor exhausted from the running.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked him. Red Shot looked at the money and a smile slipped his lips.

"I'm quitting this villain thing, I want my sister and I to live a nice life," he said and removed his mask, "So as of now, Red Shot and Livewire no longer exist. What about you Night?" he asked a mix of relieve and concern could be heard in his tone. Nightcrawler looked at the siblings and sighed heavily.

"I have no idea," she said and looked up at the sky, "I´ll try to figure something out before I go back to get Camille," she said.

"What are you going to do with that money?" they asked, Nightcrawler just smiled sweetly and took off with the other bag.

-End of flashback-

Nightshade finished her story obviously leaving out the murder and the other compromising parts. "Let me see if I got this?" said Aqualad staring at her "You're telling me that you three were working for the Light, but then you quit and left Camille behind as some sort of scape goat?" he finished.

"I wouldn't really call it a scape goat, more like an exchange really," she said while thinking of something else to say to cover the silence.

"And you managed to hide all of this from the justice league, how?" asked Superboy, Nightshade looked back at the siblings who nodded in agreement with what she was thinking.

"Have you ever heard of Calculator?" she asked, by the blank stares she understood they hadn't and kept talking, "he will get you any file you want, or in our case erase any file you want for a price, that's why you couldn't find anything about me. Part of the money went to paying Calculator, the rest went to pay for some of their debts and living expenses. I need you to trust me on this, none of us mean any harm anymore we just want to move on and get on with our lives," She finished talking and looked at Aqualad, although it was like that Nightshade had never given them any reason not to trust her. They stood silent for a while before Robin started talking.

"What about your part of the money, what did you do with it?" he asked coming from behind the team, she looked a little hurt especially since it was Robin the one that was asking.

"That I can't tell you," she said and looked down to the floor, it was the first time Nightshade had avoided eye contact, "I know it might be hard but please just trust me on this, I'm sure Camille will tell us what she knows once she is alright," she pleaded once more. The expression on their faces softened , but Robin whispered something to Miss Martian and she started barging into her mind, but just when she was reaching the core, a high pitched sound blocked her away followed by two voices speaking simultaneously.

"_**Get out of our Mind! You have no power here,"**_ they said and forced Miss Martian out, she dropped to her knees holding her head; Robin and Superboy grabbed her arms and helped her up. Now Nightshade looked angry and disappointed, she reached out to her pocket and pulled out a USB and threw it on the floor and it landed right in front of Robin's feet.

"I was sure this would happen sooner or later, don't believe me? There is the file I had removed," she said sighing and walked out of the room making her way through the team careful enough not to look at anyone. Robin connected the USB to the main computer and started opening file by file until Lance pointed out one labeled 'Nightcrawler'. He opened it and out popped a large document, pictures and a long list of crimes. Some of the pictures where of victims, others were pictures of her with the Joker or Ra's al Ghul, but every single one of them made them cringe. The list of crimes included armed robbery, extortion and murder, but for the past two years the name Nightcrawler hadn't popped up on the news, or the police records, not even on websites. So it was safe to assume that Nightshade was telling the truth when she said she had quit, and that made them feel a bit safer, but in a sense what Batman and Wonder Woman had been telling them might be coming true after all.

Nightshade clamed herself down after walking to the infirmary to check up on Camille, she popped her head in but on the bed there was nothing but bloody sheets and messed up covers. She could have guessed what was going on, so instead of bothering to look anywhere else she ran directly to the archive room and found Camille messing around with the computers. Nightshade grabbed her by the collar and pushed her against the wall, Camille smiled as she stared at her.

"Took you long enough, did you really think I was as weak as you?" she said, Nightshade pushed harder, "you've grown soft Night, it's only a matter of time before they start blaming you for everything that has happened. Oh wait, did they start doing that already?" Nightshade didn't move, she couldn't so she just let go of Camille and she just smiled and walked out of the room back to the infirmary. Nightshade was left looking around the room with and empty stare that she changed as soon as she walked out.


	9. Secret's out Pt II

So this is the second part of chapter 9, hope you enjoy it. I don't own anything except for my characters.

May 1-Mount Justice- 6:00 P.M-

Camille had already recovered from most of her wounds and now she was ready to be questioned by the team, Nightshade walked into the already full room and stood in the corner, her arms crossed over her chest staring directly at Camille. The team on the other side watched as she walked in without saying a word and installed herself in the corner, her attitude as defiant as always. Camille told her side of the story the same way Nightshade did, without giving much detail, but of course her story ended with Vandal Savage taking her back to his lair and experimenting on her. She told the team of her superpowers and raised her hand and out of her finger tips small but sharp purple blades came out. She called it energy manipulation that allowed her to turn her mind into a weapon.

The team was a bit shocked, they didn't expect her to have powers, but now if she had some then so did Nightshade, since she was the only one out of the four that had been under the Light's control that didn't show any signs of superpowers. "Nightshade, what about you?" asked Rocket turning around to see the girl still in the corner, "You went through the same thing. Then you should have some kind of power, right?" she asked, Nightshade shifted her gaze from Camille to Rocket and moved away from the wall.

"Unfortunately, I don't. I was just trained by them," she said and turned to walk out of the room. Robin sensed she was lying, if she did had powers then what Ghost Girl had said before would make more sense. And the fact that Nightshade was lying to them made him feel anxious and angry at the same time. While he thought all that a purple blade brushed past him and was aimed at Nightshade, it cut her arm and then hit the wall to finally disappear. Blood came out from her arm and Nightshade's eyes widened as she rushed to grab some bandages to cover up the wound.

"Are you insane?" Asked Artemis, as she turned to look at Camille.

"Sorry, I just panicked and it came out, it won't happened again. Sorry," she said looking down at the ground. Aqualad interrupted them and told them there was a mission, he also commanded Camille to stay behind and took the rest of the team with him.

-Gotham City Sewers- 7:45 P.M-

"This is so disgusting! These boots are new," said Zatana, as she, Nightshade, Rocket and Kid Flash walked under the city looking for killer Crock that had been spotted down at the sewers again, Rocket gave them a smirk since she was flying and Nightshade rolled her eyes. The rest of the team had taken the other side of the sewers and they were now near the meeting point, Kid Flash walked up to Nightshade who was holding the flash light, he started talking but she ignored him, her eyes looking around for any sign of Killer Crock. Suddenly the light of the flash light went out, Rocket and Zatanna got startled and Kid Flash started complaining.

"God, how old are you five?" said Nightshade, "I'm cold, my boots got wet, the lights out we are going to die," she mocked them, placing new batteries on the flash light.

"Hey, just because you are angry doesn't mean you have to treat us that way," said Rocket walking up to her and snatching the flash light from her hands. Nightshade glared at her and walked five steps behind the three of them the whole time. They had just reached the meeting point when they heard the sound of metal being bent and broken followed by a loud explosion; they rushed to where the sound had come from to find the other half of the team fighting with Killer Crock.

Killer Crock threw Robin and Superboy against the wall with his large and powerful tail, Nightshade launched herself at Artemis who was in the way of the tail and both girls fell on the water, Artemis stood up a few seconds after Nightshade and the girls walked to the border. Aqualad was using the water to form his weapons but nothing seemed to harm him enough to make him retreat. Robin tried using his bombs again, once they went off, they were able to damage Killer Crock a little managing to push him back into the wall. The team took this as an opportunity to release their most powerful attacks with almost no major effect. Killer Crock moved his tail around one more time aiming for Robin again, but Nightshade grabbed his arm and pulled him to the opposite wall, she looked at him in the eyes and moved away from him.

"He is kicking our butts," she said, "Think we can beat him anytime soon, I'm getting real tired of this crap. Literally," she said pointing to the floor, Robin held back a smile and nodded as he prepared a new round of bombs and Nightshade recharged her gun. Just then Killer Crock was attacked by Artemis' arrows freezing the lower part of his body and giving enough time for Robin to put the bombs and activate them. This time they managed to cause more damage. Killer Crock moved his tail again and managed to scratch Aqualad and Superboy with his claws and send everyone flying away from him. Nightshade and Rocket landed on the water and with some effort they managed to get back to the border, both girls sat down on the edge when Nightshade felt a breeze and then a sting in her arm, from the corner of her eye she saw some purple colored blades and then she looked down at her arm to see blood coming out from a superficial cut.

"Camille is here," she said and then she and Rocket turned to look at Killer Crock. The blades hit Killer Crock, but had the same result as any other attack, Camille emerged from the shadows. She flew up to Killer Crock with Rocket and Nightshade following her, she raised her hand and suddenly Killer Crock started to hit himself with his powerful tail.

"What is going on?" Asked Kid Flash

"Is she controlling Killer Crock?" asked Miss Martian, Nightshade fired three bullets just before Camille released another wave of knives, and with that Killer Crock fell to the ground unconscious. It was as if they had already done that, they were so in sync that it was almost scary.

"I did in ten minutes what you couldn't do in five hours," said Camille, "I think you guys need an extra hand around here," Nightshade turned away from her and leaned down to pick up her knives.

-Mount Justice-10:00 P.M-

"Welcome to the team, you are still under probation though" said Aqualad to Camille as he shook her hand, Lance and Skye had come to pick up Nightshade and they were talking with Superboy and Artemis waiting for Nightshade to change. Nightshade walked out with black jeans and a white short sleeved shirt, she had a cookie in her mouth and was putting on a black and blue jacket.

"I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other," said Camille as Nightshade passed her by. Nightshade ignored her and walked directly up to where the rest of the team was, "hey, don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!" she yelled and ran up to her.

"Camille, I don't care. Don't get close to them, don't mess with the team. We don't need you right now," said Nightshade as she shook Camille off.

"God now you're talking like them, The Light sent me to get the information you have and then take you back to the lab," she said.

"I quit a long time ago. You are not getting anything from me, you want information? Gather it up yourself," Nightshade answered, her tone hostile and her voice raising. Camille nodded, and moved closer to Nightshade.

"Now, now Nightcrawler, don't be so stubborn. Your glares stopped working on me a long time ago. I know you miss it," she said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, your anger is misplaced,"

"Oh my anger is misplaced? If you hadn't left me there then maybe I wouldn't have turned into this monster! Come on, we both know you want to go back to killing people and wreaking havoc around the city, just like we used to do," she said, "or are you afraid of using your powers? Are you afraid of showing them the monster you really are?" Nightshade glared at her. "We both know the reason why you left. It was getting too much for you, I understand you needed to cool off," said Camille and laughed at her own words, "if you know what I mean," she said

"You know, I still like to tell myself that the girl I left behind in that Bank is still somewhere in here, and that she hasn't turned into a cheap copy of Nightcrawler," and with widened eyes Camille walked away. Nightshade watched her leave with exhaustion on her face. She twirled one of the fingers from her left hand and a flame came out, then it turned bigger and it covered her whole hand. She shook it and the fire went out.

Robin came out from the corner just as Nightshade was sighing, he tapped on her shoulder and she turned around startled. "You could have told us, now we know you don't trust us, so how can we trust you?" he said to her examining her face and all he saw was a stressed out girl dying to get out of there, like a small animal that has just been trapped. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small box and placed it in her hand "happy birthday Jade," he finished and left. Nightshade went right behind him wondering whether or not she should talk with him but in the end they parted ways at the door and she left with Lance and Skye.

"Idiots," said Camille as she watched the three of them walk away, "she'll do to you, the same thing she did to me," she said and turned around to stay in her room.


	10. Trust Issues

May 16- Gotham City- 11:13 P.M-

Water was flooding the place where Nightshade and Robin laid unconscious. The first one of them to wake up was Nightshade who felt some drops falling on her face, looking around she saw that Robin was still unconscious and both their hands were tied behind their backs. Getting up using the slippery wall she nudged him with her foot until he regained consciousness; with the water now up to their knees the teens tried to untie each other with little success until Robin started to reach out for Nightshade's knife on the side of her belt.

"Hey, watch where you're touching," she said as a blushing Robin apologized and pulled the knife out. First he released himself and then he cut the ropes in Nightshade's hands. Once free and with the water increasing in volume the teens worried themselves with covering any place the water might be coming that resulted in an impossible task.

"Where are we?" asked Robin as he looked around, the place looked like a metal container, one of those that come in the ships with merchandise from abroad except this one was filled with holes and water was getting in, now soaked up to their elbows the two of them started to try and see if they could spot anything outside of the container but with the water coming in they gave up soon on the idea. "I'm just going to assume we are under water, how was it that we got here again?" wondered Robin trying to remember what had happened to them before they woke up in the container, when he took to long Nightshade cut in his thoughts.

"Penguin" she said, and just those words where enough to make him remember what had happened earlier that day.

-May 16- Gotham City- 8:45 P.M-

Batman and Robin, the dynamic duo, barged into the Penguin's lair in the old Gotham museum, he had kidnapped several civilians and was keeping them in there so it was up to them to save them. The Penguin had the placed completely covered with guards and henchmen, most of them were armed with guns so it was too dangerous for them to just fight them right on. Batman disappeared in the shadows once they walked into the museum, and trying to follow him Robin fired his grappling hook to the Gargoyles that where placed just underneath the balconies of the second floor. There he could see everything under him, anything except for Batman of course. The room had six armed and two unarmed guards, they had fanned out around the room as if they were waiting for them to show up. Robin was about to sneak down behind one of the armed guards when he saw that they had started falling down on the other side of the room. Sighing he landed just behind the guard and took him out by dislocating his arm, then he moved on towards the other where he banged the thug's head against the rail and then another thug until the room was cleared.

The two of them kept walking deeper into the museum taking down the guards they encountered when they opened the door to the arms exhibition only to find an immense group of henchmen ready to fight them. The Penguin made his way towards Batman and Robin a strong tall man dragging a tied up young man right behind the Penguin. "I see you brought the kid with you," he said and smiled at Robin, his out of shaped and yellowish teeth showing, "Great, now I get to kill both of you," he said, Batman moved closer to him and the Penguin raised a finger and pointed his umbrella at the hostage. Batman stopped but the Penguin still shot him killing him in an instant.

"Oh there goes the father of two lovely kids," he said and smiled while walking away from them, both of them tried to reach the Penguin but the henchmen blocked their way and a fight broke out.

"Robin, call for back up. Something tells me we are going to need it," he said as he punched someone in the face and took out a Batarang and threw it at some other henchman making him fall to the ground. Batman was right, for each one they took out two more came out of the halls, so Robin started calling the team for back up.

"_**Robin to the team, is there anyone available for backup?"**_ he asked kicking someone away from him, there was a moment of silence on the other side of the line before the one person he didn't want to hear from spoke.

"_**I'm not doing anything important, where are you?"**_ asked Nightshade. Robin sighed.

"_**The old Gotham Museum, come…..fast,"**_ he said, why of all people Nightshade had been the one not doing anything? He wondered as he dodged a kick and returned a punch. They hadn't made up and Nightshade still owed them an explanation for not telling them about her. He just wasn't in the mood to see her, he hadn't been in the mood for two weeks or so. The henchmen seemed to have increased in number and now they were holding all sorts of weapons, a hammer, a bat, guns and knives. One of them hit Robin with a bat while another one was coming closer to him holding a knife in his hand when he received a knee in the face. Robin looked up to see Nightshade kicking people away from him allowing him to get up and keep fighting.

"Why is it that whenever we need a back up you are always available?" he asked her as they fought side by side.

"What can I say, I am rather free lately since Huntress doesn't really let me go out much with her, and my boyfriend is also not calling me, Richard Grayson, do you know him?" she said throwing one of her knives at them and punching another guy.

"Doesn't ring a bell, but he sounds like a smart guy. Maybe because he noticed you don't trust him and he thinks the relationship isn't going anywhere," he said as he kicked someone in the face and moved on to the next one.

"More like a smart-ass. Well maybe because it's hard for me to talk about that sort of thing, did it cross your mind," she said giving a round house kick, "says the guy who hides his identity from the entire team," she muttered under her breath, and punched a thug in the stomach while simultaneously extending her leg to kick another one.

"You know mine, and that's probably all I care about. You know who I am," he said landing a kick on a thug's ribs and using some birdarangs to injure some other guys.

"Yeah, but it's not like you ever told me," she said and threw a knife at someone that was just behind Robin. He could feel the knife brushing against his ear and he flinched a little. She was right, Nightshade knew his identity and his past, but not because he had told her. Robin gulped and moved away from her; she somehow found her way towards Batman who looked rather tired but was still furiously taking them down. Nightshade spotted a guy aiming at him so she took out her gun and shot him in the shoulder making him fall to the ground and drop the gun in the process.

"Have I ever told you I hate guns?" he said, Nightshade shook her head and kept shooting people which was really decreasing the number of henchmen at a much faster pace. Thirty minutes later all of the henchmen where either on the floor or had run away from the fight, so now the three of them were free to walk into the next room that was the infamous ice lounge. There was thick layer of ice on top of the cold water, and the temperature in the room was remarkably lower. On the other side of that room the Penguin was waiting probably convinced that Batman was still fighting the thugs, so all they had to do was cross the frozen water and get to the Penguin, Right? The ice looked rather unstable and it looked like it hard to walk in; Robin looked at Nightshade, she was playing around with the ice and trying to make figures with her breath until he nudged her in the side. Batman went down the stairs and stepped onto the ice, it cracked a little but it was able to hold his weight so the other two went down as well.

"Walk slowly, sudden movements will crack the ice faster," he said going ahead, the teens nodded and followed him. Nightshade stepped on the wrong side and the ice broke, but she moved away and was able to avoid falling in. Robin and Batman turned to glare at her and all she did was smile and push her shoulders up. Once on the other side they walked into the central room of the ice lounge, the hostages were all standing in a container that was just above the water. They made their way to the container and just when they were about to star untying them more thugs came in through the door, Penguin in the front lines.

"Is that idiot asking for it?" said Nightshade as she walked closer. The Penguin took out a remote control and pushed the button once, the container moved a little towards the water.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, the thugs had circled them, Batman was hesitating between going towards the hostages or the Penguin, noticing this Robin tried to use a birdarang to hit the Penguin's hand and knock off the remote but this only made the Penguin press the button once again and the container was now on the border of the platform. Nightshade launched herself at the container with Robin right behind her, seeing this Batman started fighting the thugs, none of them noticed the smile that had formed in The Penguin's lips. He pressed the button once more just as the teens were taking the last one of the hostages out and the container's wall closed, but not before one of the supposed hostages hit them in the head and tied them up. They fell into the water which led them to the situation they were in the moment they had woken up.

"So there were no hostages, this was all an ambush," thought Robin out loud while Nightshade inspected the walls, there was no obvious way out and the water was now up to their chest. Robin inspected his utility belt, there were some bombs, a couple birdarangs, a laser and that was it, the rest of his things had gotten wet and now they were rendered useless. Maybe if he could place a bomb on one of the walls it could give them enough space to leave or the blast could blow them both away. He then grabbed his laser and looked at it for a while thinking of a way to cut a hole through the wall. Nightshade saw this and took out her gun and started firing at the wall making small holes from where the water started coming in.

"What are you doing!" yelled Robin, she stopped firing and looked at him, the water now reached their chins and they were gasping for air in the small space between the water and the roof of the container.

"If you fill this up you can make a hole in the wall without having to worry about water coming in, or we just drown," explained Nightshade as she took one last large breath and went under the water; Robin followed her down putting in his mouth a device that allowed him to breath under the water and he handed another one to Nightshade. Robin turned on his laser and started to make a hole through the wall big enough for the two of them to get out, once it was done the teens swam back to the surface just when one of the thugs fell into the water next to Nightshade. She looked at him and smiled before kicking him further away leaving him there in the water as she made it back into the ground where Batman was fighting the henchmen. Not long after, Robin joined him and the henchmen started to retreat. With little men left The Penguin started to sneak away, but Nightshade stopped him and grabbed him by the collar.

"Thanks to you I'm all wet and I don't like to get wet," she said looking directly into his eyes, The Penguin gulped but then looked behind her to see some of his men approaching.

"Let's see if we can do something about that," he said just as Nightshade was hit with a pipe, without letting go of The Penguin, she turned and kicked the thug right in the face. When another one came her way she pushed The Penguin into the thug throwing them against the wall. Nightshade walked up to him and tied his hand to a pipe, she then took out her gun and aimed at him and shot at the wall, just inches away from his face. The Penguin moved away startled and then his face changed from frightened to terrified when the girl turned around with the gun still in her hand.

"Try to run away and the next one is going through your skull. You see, unlike him I don't have much of a moral or ethical system," she said pointing at Batman and then turned around to fight the remaining thugs. She started kicking and punching, two thugs came her way, out of the corner of her eye she saw them and ran up to the first one, kicked him in the chest and used the impulse to take the other one out. As for the rest, she took them out with some of her knives hitting them in the limbs to avoid killing them.

On the other side of the room, Batman was immobilizing all the thugs that came his way and also using his batarangs. He looked towards Nightshade, she remained calm as she beat them up and she did it very fast, just like Robin except her fighting style was closer to his than to Huntress who had claimed to have trained her. It was hard to believe since when you train someone you don't teach them techniques you don't use and as far as he knew Huntress didn't use a gun, but it was not only that, the way she dodged the attacks and then returned them was quite familiar. His thoughts were interrupted by a thug trying to harm him with a broken bottle. At the end of the fight Batman grabbed The Penguin and dragged him along to the Gotham City Police Department's roof where Gordon was already waiting for him.

"What about the hostages?" he asked Batman as one of the officers took The Penguin with him, then Gordon noticed Robin and Nightshade standing behind Batman, "New girl?" he asked.

"There were no hostages, it was a setup. As for the girl, she's Huntress' sidekick just tagging along for a day," he said and walked away. Gordon kept looking at the girl, he couldn't help but think she was awfully familiar, but as she walked away he brushed it of as a coincidence.

"Good job," said Batman as he walked past the teenagers.

"That's all we get? We almost drowned and all we get is a 'Good job'? You are so not cute Batman," said Nightshade walking right behind him with Robin next to her.

May 17-Mount Justice - 3:34 A.M-

Robin walked with Nightshade to the cave, it had been a long day and since the next day was early practice at the cave they had chosen to spend the rest of the night there. After going for a glass of water, they both sat down on the couch, each one on a different side, not talking at each other until Robin broke the silence. "You were right, I can't really expect you to tell me something like that when I haven't told you anything about me," he said an turned to look at Nightshade, she spit out her the water she had chugged down and with wide eyes she turned to meet his.

"Did you just say I was right?" she asked half joking, half genuinely shocked.

"My point is I'm sorry I got mad at you for not telling me about it, but I do believe the team needs to know about you, especially since you worked with the Light. It only fair Jade," he said while examining her expression. It was the expression of a trapped dog just like the other day, she was tapping the glass with her fingers and she would occasionally open and close her mouth as if looking for a way to start her phrase, but the words wouldn't come out. "That is, when you're ready to tell us," he said and got up from the couch.

"Thanks. Just a tiny question, we are still dating, right?" she asked taking her shoes off and putting her feet up on the couch, Robin looked down at her and saw the necklace he had given her, so couldn't help but smile at her, now she looked like a kid asking for a treat, he chuckled before leaning in and kissing her. "I'm going to take that as a yes," she said and pulled him in leaving the both of them kissing in the couch, Robin on top of Nightshade pushing her down. And it wasn't until one of them ran out of breath that they fell asleep on the couch next to each other.


	11. The Spark

May 28- Gotham City High School- 7: 45 A.M-

Camille waited for Nightshade at the front of the school gates; she kept pacing back and forth, wondering if it was a cruel joke. "Maybe she already went inside and I didn't see her," she thought as she kept striding. Other students stared at her and others just tried to stay out of her way.

"What the hell are you doing?" Asked Nightshade, she saw her white pants, a light blue shirt and thought that she couldn't have chosen something more preppy.

"You are late, and why does everybody keep staring at me?" Camille scowled Nightshade.

"You are making a fool of yourself, come on Camille we have to pick up your schedule. And just so you know, this is the earliest I've been to school," After having her schedule Camille noticed she had almost all the same classes as Nightshade.

"You know of all the years we were together in the lab, I never knew your Name. So, what's your name?" She asked Nightshade, she turned her back to Camille and started walking away, Camille caught up with her before she could walk too far.

"Jade Collins. Now this our next class," Nightshade told her and started walking faster, when they reached the room Nightshade opened the door an Camille saw the scary looking teacher glaring at them, apparently she wasn't the only one scared of him, everyone in the classroom had a scared look on their faces. That can't be good, she thought.

"Miss Collins, you are late again, and now you are dragging the new student down with you, interesting," he said crossing his arms over his chest, Camille looked at Nightshade, she was searching for an expression of fear anywhere, but she failed to find one.

"Sorry, I was busy picking up her schedule, plus she walks really slowly," said Nightshade walking towards an empty seat, Camille was about to tell her something but the expression of her new classmates stopped her, they were about to laugh, so all she did was sigh and look for another seat.

"I never said you could take a seat Collins,"

"So should I leave? Because I don't really mind," she said, the teacher reluctantly motioned her to sit down and started his class. Camille was in shock, not only was she a terrible person, she was really arrogant, inside and outside the team.

After lunch Camille decided to walk around the school since Nightshade had ditched her before lunch, Camille turned the corner and saw Nightshade ignoring a tall red headed, "God, this girl has no social skills," she thought and popped her head out.

"Are you even listening to me?" Nightshade leaned back against the wall and that's when Camille saw another girl standing next to her, a blonde tall girl that looked threatening.

"Well you only talk about yourself, and we don't really care about what you have to say" said the blonde girl, the smirk the other girl had disappeared and Nightshade smiled, the girl turned around and walked away past Camille. She popped her head in again and saw the blonde girl hugging Nightshade not planning on letting go. After a while Lance and Skye showed up and the four of them were off just as the bell rang. Camille hid again and she was about to leave when Nightshade popped in and grabbed her, the blonde girl still holding her arm.

"Oh, there you were, our next class is right upstairs, the second door to the right" Nightshade walked with the others in front. The blonde girl that was next to Nightshade walked up to Camille.

"I'm Alex, Jade told me you were an old friend that came back to Gotham," she said, Camille smiled at her. And the group walked into the class room. A tall man in his mid-forties greeted her, she introduced herself and walked up to an empty seat, a few minutes later another girl arrived, she was panting and looked as if she had been running really fast.

"You are late, why is it always in my class, that is the reason you are failing," said the man inspiring a sense of security in every word he spoke.

"I'm sorry, I lost track of time, I apologize Mr. Cole," She whispered, you could see her trembling and shaking, she was a nervous wreck.

"Sit down, I'm going to say this again, you come late for the next class and I will send you to the principal's office," He said, the girl walked up to an empty seat in the corner, the red headed from before walked in and sat down, Mr. Cole barely looked up from his desk.

"You are being unfair, how come you don't tell her anything," said Lance standing up and pointing at the red headed, Mr. Cole looked directly into his eyes, his stare made him want to run out of the room, but he resisted the urge to do so.

"Swanson, sit down, will you?" he asked, Nightshade looked at Lance and muttered 'Sit down and shut up' to him. Without an answer Lance sat down, a grin formed in Mr. Cole's face and he took some papers from his desk and placed them on Lance's desk, Camille saw what those were, exams the students had taken, he was asking him to do his job, no, not asking, telling.

"Very well, finish these up," he said and started his class, after a while Camille kept getting stares from the teacher, he would look at her with an intense glare every once in a while. It made her feel incredibly uncomfortable, and every once in a while Nightshade or Alex or Skye would interrupt him so he would stop staring at her that is how the whole class went by. Once it was over Camille walked out of the room and the red-head grabbed her and pulled her aside.

"Hello, I'm Thea. I saw you with Jade and her annoying group. Now you either have some very good gossip about them or you can join their useless group," she said as she pinned Camille against the wall. It shouldn't make her mad, Nightshade was the worst kind of person she could ever meet and yet again she was feeling really irritated with what that girl was saying.

"Sorry, but I like that lame group, well not much but I certainly like them better than you," said Camille and walked away from her, leaving the red-head yelling at her. The rest of the day went on with Camille making people mad and Nightshade running behind her to fix her problems. The first one started when Camille accidentally broke a window with a ball during gym class and Nightshade had to take the blame. Later Camille left the water running in the bathroom and flooded the room and Nightshade got called out. Now tired of it, Nightshade left Camille alone for the last period of school and she relaxed in art class looking out the window. It was then that she noticed Camille being dragged out by Thea.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she said and got up from her chair, the teacher nodded and Nightshade walked up to the door and bumped into it, she turned around holding her nose with a thin stream of blood coming out of it.

"Jade, you better go to the nurse's office, take your time," said the teacher handing her a small piece of paper with permission, "are you always these clumsy?" she asked, Nightshade nodded. Once outside the classroom Nightshade wiped the paint off her face and rushed out after Camille. She found them behind the building, Camille pinned to the wall with Thea threatening, she walked up to them and tapped Thea's shoulder. She looked at Nightshade and hit her on the side, but what was more shocking to Camille was watching Nightshade take the blow.

"See, now that you hit someone are you satisfied?" she said, "If you are, could you leave her alone? I don't know what she said but I'm sure she is sorry," finished Nightshade gabbing her side looking up at Thea. The red-head walked away letting go of Camille. Nightshade straightened up and glared at Camille before finally walking away.

-Mount Justice- 5:35 P.M-

Camille and Nightshade walked into the room to find Batman talking with the rest of the team, even though he saw them he didn't stop talking. He was telling them about a fire breaking out at a nuclear plant and another one downtown in one of the Gotham buildings. With that the team left, all of them but Nightshade who stayed behind to talk with Batman.

"I bet you think it's funny," she said, "leaving me to take care of Camille, we don't even get along,"

"She is your old friend being chased by The Light. You know what I think about you, but I have no other choice but to trust you with this one," he said and turned to work on the computer, "now, do you really have time for this?" he finished. Nightshade looked at Batman and then at the door before rushing out.

-Downtown Gotham- 6:43 P.M-

The team divided in two groups, Robin, Camille and Kid Flash stayed behind to help clear out the building and put out the fire, the rest of the team went to the nuclear plant. Nightshade stopped her bike by the burning building, she saw Kid Flash struggling to get people out. Turned out the building held more than a hundred people and barely half of them where out.

"KF, need help?" she asked taking her helmet off.

"What do you think?" he answered placing a woman and a guy on the side walk away from the fire. Nightshade nodded and went inside through the roof, the building was five stories tall and all of the people from the fifth and forth floor were already outside. Nightshade stopped halfway through the stairs of the third floor when she heard a child screaming, it wasn't natural scream it was more of a 'I'm burning alive' scream, she rushed back and kicked the door open only to find Camille standing there.

"Liked my screaming, I've been practicing," she said, a vicious smile on her face, Nightshade rolled her eyes, which irritated her, "you left me there on the cold floor! You have no idea of how much I've been through since that day," Nightshade looked at Camille, that girl was thirsty for vengeance but she was looking in the wrong place, or at least that was what she wanted to believe, but it would be wrong to think that way. "What do you think would happen when the team finds out about you? The real you. You might have changed your name and team but you are still the same lowlife murderer you were back then," Camille continued, Nightshade turned away, but Camille grabbed her arm. They heard a noise coming from the stairs; it was Robin looking for them. Camille let go of her and pretended everything was alright.

"What are you two doing? We have to get out," he told her trying to pull her, a wooden beam fell forcing Robin to back away, but it cut his side and he was now bleeding. Cries for help where still coming from the Lower floors, the three of them heard it but Nightshade was too busy blocking the blood from the wound. Camille and Nightshade lifted Robin and took him outside and the two of them rushed back inside, each taking a different side.

On the second floor Nightshade checked each one of the rooms and only found a little girl laying on the side of the room, looks like Kid Flash and Robin cleared most of this floor she thought as she grabbed the little girl and kept searching the rooms, a boy was found on the other one and she ran out carrying both kids and went inside one more time. The second floor was clear after, she ran into Camille who was taking out a couple more people. They looked at each other and kept going their separate ways, Nightshade checked the last rooms only to find a woman trapped underneath a beam that had fallen from the ceiling. She tried to lift it up but it was too heavy for her.

"_**Nightshade, come out, the building will collapse soon" Said Robin panting. **_

"_**Yeah, can't do that Robin, there's a woman here trapped underneath a very heavy beam," she answered, "tell Camille I need her," she finished. **_

In a few seconds, Camille was inside the room and she used her powers to move the Beam away from the woman and she and Nightshade lifted the woman up and started to carry her out when she woke up and started calling for her kid which was nowhere to be seen. Nightshade left Camille with the woman and returned to the room, but he wasn't there, there was a faint voice coming from upstairs, she followed it until she heard it coming from inside a closet. Rubble fell from the ceiling, but Nightshade managed to get away with merely a scratch. She opened the closet to find the kid curled up in the corner.

"Hey kid, let's get you out," she said between coughs, he moved towards her and launched himself in her arms, once with the kid she ran towards the door but it had been blocked in the few seconds that she had been in there, she looked at the kid and then at the window.

Outside Robin sat down on the grass having his wound treated while Kid Flash was running around helping people get up and move to the ambulances that where ready to take them to the hospital. He was pretty exhausted and his snack compartment was over, after all he had taken out the greatest amount of people and was still going. Robin waited for Nightshade and Camille to come out, but when the only one that did was Camille he got up from the ground.

"Where is she?" he asked Camille as she put the woman down on the ground.

"Apparently there was still someone inside," she said, both of them looked at the building, the top floors where gone and now the third floor was starting to collapse, it didn't give her much time. Robin started to run towards the building but Camille stopped him. "What are you going to do? Get yourself killed? You will be nothing more than a burden for her," she said, "she'll be alright, Night wouldn't die because of something like this," she told him and just as they were arguing they saw Nightshade looking down at them from the window. She walked out onto the ledge of the building and jumped down with the kid in her arms as the building behind her collapsed. Once on the floor she handed the kid to Camille who handed it to his now awake mother.

"Thank you," she said and smiled. Camille returned the smile and allowed the paramedics to do their job, suddenly her chest felt tight and she had an urge to smile even more.

"It feels good to be the hero every once in a while right?" asked Nightshade standing next to her resting her arm on Camille's shoulder and the smile on Camille's face faded as she thought about what she said. Nightshade looked at Robin and Kid Flash one more time before leaving with a hurt look on her face. The team must be really important to her, she thought. Kid Flash stood next to her and gave her a smirk.

"What are you sighing for?" he asked, Camille jumped and looked to the other side.

"Nothing," she said and then she noticed a hidden figure that seemed to be looking at her, she swallowed and changed her expression to a serious one,

"Hey where is Nightshade?" he asked looking around for the girl just to watch her walking away from then and climbing to the top of a building, "never mind, found her. Man Robin might have forgiven her but she really bums me out, I thought she was my friend and all," he finished talking still following her with his until she was no longer visible.


	12. The Fire

June 14-Mount Justice- 3:34 A.M-

The team had been called to the cave in the middle of the night, the first one to arrive, aside from the ones living there, was Aqualad. A few minutes later Artemis, Rocket and Robin arrived and now they were all waiting for Nightshade. The portal announced her and she stormed into the room, "Do you have any idea of what time it is? Seriously you can't wake me up in the middle of the night I need to sleep or else I don't work very well!" she said finally looking at the person that was standing next to the screen, it was Huntress, "you're not Batman. Where is he? And why are you here? This is too weird for me," she said backing away from her. Nightshade scanned the room, they all had serious looks on their faces and none of them were looking at her; as if she wasn't there in the first place.

"Batman is busy dealing with an emergency in the Hall of Justice, but that has nothing to do with why I called you all here. Earlier today I" she said then Nightshade cleared her throat, "we, had a fight with Mr. Freeze which unfortunately ended in him getting away, this happened a few hours ago and I finally managed to track him," she pressed some buttons and a small red dot appeared right in the GCPD building, "The police is trapped inside with Freeze as well as the prisoners," she finished talking and turned around to look at the team.

"Just out of curiosity, why would freeze break into the GCPD building?" asked Kid Flash. Huntress pressed some more buttons and the screen now showed The Penguin and Freeze next to each other.

"Looks like The Penguin had promised to give Freeze some sort of trial drug for his wife, but when Batman, Robin and Nightshade stopped The Penguin the police found it and took it as part of the evidence without knowing what it was for. Freeze probably went in there to take it back," she finished, the team just stood still as if waiting for permission to go, "well what are you standing there for? Go, take care of it," she said awkwardly shooing them off with her hands and turned around to power off the screen as they rushed out the cave.

-Gotham City Police Department- 3:55 A.M-

Robin, Artemis, Zatanna and, Camille landed on top of the GCPD building going inside from a second floor window while Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Nightshade went in from the back of the building leaving Rocket, and Kid Flash to go inside through the front door. Once inside the frozen place, the team on the second floor started crawling around to see if they could find the exact location of Mr. Freeze, Camille turned around to look at them but she couldn't find Robin anywhere.

"Where is Robin?" she asked, the other girls looked around and let out a big sigh.

"Don't worry, that's his thing. You know sneaking around or disappearing in the shadows, something Batman taught him," explained Zatanna going just around the corner and then popping her head behind it, "Guys, I think I found some policemen," she said and the other two walked up to her only to find some police officers stuffed in a tiny cell where the prisoners were supposed to be. They took them each and every one of them outside of the building. While they did that Kid Flash and Rocket ran into the prisoners that had escaped their cells Kid Flash tried running but the floor was too slippery and it became hard for him to hold his balance or at least run at his usual speed. Rocket on the other hand was flying and blasting the prisoners with her powers at the same time she was cracking the ice. Kid Flash tried running again, but fell on his butt causing some prisoners to laugh at him.

"KF, the floor is still with ice, why don't you try it the old fashioned way," said Rocket descending and blasting them from the ground, Kid Flash listened to her and started a hand to hand combat with them hoping Rocket would get the ice off the floor in time for him to really kick some ass.

On the other side of the building Aqualad and the others were just walking inside when they found their own wave of criminals waiting for them and more policemen locked up in the cells. Superboy cracked his knuckles and started punching the hell out of some criminals on the right side of the room while Aqualad used the water from the ice to form his own weapons to take care of the other group of criminals. Leaving Miss Martian and Nightshade the ones in the middle, they started whistling and calling after them, that was when Nightshade took out a knife and started playing with it.

"So how do you wanna do this? I take the ones in the front you take care of the ones in the back?" asked Miss Martian looking around at them.

"Come at me princess," one of them said, "I can't wait to tear off those clothes with that knife of yours," he continued.

"Do you even know how to use that thing little girl?" another one asked. Nightshade glared at them and then looking at Miss Martian she asked:

"Is he in the front or in the back?" Miss Martian smiled and went on the opposite direction as Nightshade ran up to the first one and kicked him in the face then pinned the other one to the wall with her knife, "You know I usually overlook this type of things, but today you idiots caught me in a really bad mood," she said before kicking another thug in the head before moving on to next one. Meanwhile Miss Martian happily used her powers to bang a couple of heads together and crashed them against walls, leaving them unconscious. Sometimes she would even go into their minds and then leave them in an almost vegetative state.

"_**Guys, I found Mr. Freeze, he is in the basement," said Robin over the comm**_ just as they were finishing up.

"Nightshade put him down and let's go," said Aqualad looking over at the girl grabbing a man by his collar about to throw the last punch. She shrugged, punched him across the face and let go of the unconscious body before going after an eye rolling Aqualad. Once they arrived to the entrance of the basement they noticed the sudden change in the temperature, it had dropped considerably causing some of them to shake. Robin dropped down from the ceiling and landed right next to them startling Camille in the process to which Nightshade chuckled. The team looked into the room, it was completely frozen over and virtually impossible to walk in without being spotted by him so they decided to just barge into the room without trying to hide. The moment they did Freeze turned around to face them putting aside some small test tubes with a green solution inside.

"You are not a very quiet group of people, I could hear the commotion upstairs," he said, "I assume you are here to stop me, but I can't let that happen. Here's all the equipment I need to finish this test drug so scatter," he said turning around to continue with his work.

"I'm sorry, but we can't let you do that," said Aqualad as he forms swords with the water from the ice and swinging around his swords toward Freeze. This made him back away into Robin who turned around and kicked him in the chest.

"He's not really sorry," he said giving Freeze a smirk. Superboy came around and knocked him into the wall cracking his suit a little; Freeze stood up and pointed his freeze gun at Superboy and fired freezing the lower half of his body then aimed at Robin and froze his left side. Artemis then shot arrows at him but he froze them with his gun before they could hit him. With the slippery frozen over floor there was not much Kid Flash could do other than tumble towards Freeze, so while he was doing that the others where charging at Mr. Freeze not really inflicting much harm so it wasn't a surprise that when Mr. Freeze fired again Artemis, Miss Martian and Rocket where taken out of the fight and joined the other human popsicles that where currently working on a way to get out. A few more minutes in and it was down to Kid Flash, Aqualad and Zatanna right after Nightshade and Camille had their sides frozen by the freeze gun.

Aqualad used his swords to avoid some of the rays from the gun and make his way towards him only to be frozen over completely by Mr. Freeze and then kicked over to the side. As Zatanna and Kid Flash tried to fight off the villain Nightshade and Camille started having a very heated argument over how to get out of the ice. "I'm not doing it Camille," said Nightshade as she tried moving her hands around.

"Oh come on, what are you waiting for? A written invitation?" she said doing the same with no obvious result. Nightshade sighed and looked around, everyone was too busy trying to get away and no one was paying attention to them except for Kid Flash who was really just standing in the corner frustrated.

"No way, not doing it,"

"Do it,"

"Nope,"

"Nightshade Now!" yelled Camille and Nightshade finally gave in when Zatanna was frozen by Mr. Freeze. The hand that was caught in the ice started to glow a bright red and the ice started to melt away from her hand, then the rest of her body and she was now kneeling on the ground. She looked towards a shocked Kid Flash and then at the rest of the team, they were almost done with the ice around them so she quickly turned her glance back to Kid Flash.

"KF can you keep a secret?" she said and placed her hand over the ice on the floor and as a red flame surrounded her palm the ice from the ground started melting giving Kid Flash enough ground to run towards Mr. Freeze, take the gun from him and using the impulse he pushed him into the wall just as the team finished unfreezing themselves. That allowed them to finish Freeze off and then leave to put the prisoners back in their cells and wait for Huntress to pick him up and put him in Arkham. So while they waited the team started to clear out the place; Kid Flash picked up the gun and started playing around with it.

"Cool, Souvenir," he said as he walked around the room pointing it at people.

"Hey, what should we do with this?" asked Zatanna holding onto the vial.

"We'll take them to Batman, be careful with those," said Aqualad turning his back on her and walking out of the room. Suddenly a ray from the freeze gun was shot in her direction forcing her to place the vial back on the table to get out of the way of the ray.

"Kid Flash!" she yelled and then walked over to him and took the gun away, while Robin let out a laugh as they walked out of the room. In the middle of his dizziness Mr. Freeze could make out a shadowy dark figure that took the vial he was working on and put it away in its pocket, the person had long black hair and a black outfit so it wasn't a surprise when his lasts words before drifting into unconsciousness where:

"Nightshade!"

June 20 - Mount Justice- 3:36 P.M-

"I'm getting tired of them," said Camille as she watched Robin and Nightshade talking on the couch. Jade rested her head on his lap and they were discussing where to go on their next date.

"I'm actually glad," said Artemis leaning down in the kitchen counter next to Camille, "I never thought Jade was the steady relationship type. I imagined this a bit more chaotic," she finished.

"And to think they hated each other six months ago, especially Robin," said Miss Martian floating on the other side of Camille.

"You guys do know we can hear you?" asked Robin turning his head towards them. Just then Nightshade's phone started vibrating in her pocket. Without taking it out she hurried to the hall and went deeper into the cave so she could look at it. She never answered her phone in front of other people, it was a precaution she took to avoid misunderstandings, but this time it was a text from Huntress with an address. Putting her phone back in her pocket she walked back into the room to say goodbye.

"Nightshade, can I talk to you?" he asked walking up to her, just as he heard that Robin sat up straight on the couch and looked at the two of them.

"Sure, if you can talk while walking," she told him, "I have something to do," she marched into the hall with Kid Flash right behind her.

"You have to tell them," said Kid Flash as he walked behind Nightshade along the long corridors of the cave until they reached the hangar where Miss Martian's ship was next to Nightshade's and Robin's bike, "It has been killing me. How come you have some cool powers, that could have been very useful in different situations by the way, and I'm only finding out now?" he said watching Nightshade lean down and start working on her bike.

"Do I really have to?" she asked looking up at Kid Flash, "look if you are on the verge of a nervous breakdown than tell them, but if you are fine keep it a secret, I'll tell them sooner or later," she finished and got up from the ground. He still didn't look convinced at all so she sighed and put her helmet on. "Or you could do what Camille does and hide in the corner listening to every conversation," she said getting on the bike. Kid Flash looked around to see Camille leaning against the wall. So she knows too, he thought getting a sympathetic look from her that quickly turned into a smirk and as Nightshade drove off Camille went right after her leaving an upset Kid Flash behind.

-Gotham City- 5:43 P.M-

Back in Gotham Nightshade drove towards the other side of the city and placed her bike next to the entrance of an old building. Before going in she looked around just to make sure no one was following and pushed the door open. Inside there was nothing but a set of stairs that led to a basement and some flickering lights.

"Huntress?" she said loud enough so that her voice echoed with the empty gray walls in the building. There was a noise coming from downstairs, and the moment she heard it Nightshade rushed down the stairs noticing the sudden drop in the temperature and once she reached the bottom of the stairs Mr. Freeze was standing there in the middle of the room. She looked around, his wife laid on a glass box on a platform connected to countless machines. "I should have guessed it was you the moment the room felt like winter in the middle of summer," she said letting go of the handrail of the stairs and walking closer to Freeze, "But I'm more interested in knowing how you got Huntress' phone and mine" she said.

"Whose phone numer?" he asked, "Although I'm glad you are here, saves me the trouble of going out to look for you. You have something that is mine, and I want it back," he said extending his hand out, confused Nightshade tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Don't make this hard on yourself, the solution I was working on, give it back," he said moving closer.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about, honestly," she said crossing her arms over her chest allowing Freeze to come even closer. Once he was close enough to touch her Nightshade reached down to grab one of her guns and aimed it at Freeze. "Okay that is far enough," she said while holding the gun up; Freeze started laughing and raised his own gun and before Nightshade could shoot him he fired first and covered the teen in a layer of ice that started to melt as her hand glowed red. Once she was free of the ice Nightshade started throwing fireballs towards Mr. Freeze while he tried to avoid them, suddenly the flames cover his field of vision so he didn't notice when Nightshade jumped through the flames and kicked him in the helmet. Freeze fell to the ground and a small crack appeared in his helmet. Their fight went on and Nightshade tried to pull the same trick twice only to have her leg caught by Freeze and be thrown into the wall.

"Sorry Nightshade, but I adapt. I won't fall for it twice," he said and started shooting with his ice gun at her while Nightshade dodged and ran away sneaking around in the corners and using the furniture as cover. "Come out Nightshade," he said looking around for her, Nightshade kept herself low as she crawled around the room although she was quite beaten up she kept going until she managed to sneak around from behind Freeze and then jump at him. She grabbed him by his suit and used her weight to push him down onto the floor slamming him hard to which Freeze responded by kicking her away from him and freezing her hands.

"Aren't you tired of doing that?" she asked using her powers to unfreeze it and proceeded to attack him, "Because I'm getting tired of this bullshit! I don't have your solutions, I never even got close to it," she said as she threw more fireballs at Freeze.

"I saw you taking it!" he said as he threw a punch at Nightshade and then a kick and finally he finished up with his freeze gun pointed at her face, "Now give it back," he said extending his other hand out.

"I swear I don't have it. But I get why you are angry, she was your wife, your family. I would also do anything to bring back the people I love, but I don't have—I" she started but Freeze hit her with the back of his gun leaving her almost unconscious. He walked up to a beaten Nightshade and he was about to step on her when purple blades distracted him and Camille fell on top of Freeze and then jumped off to help Nightshade up.

"Need some backup?" she said looking at the injured Nightshade before turning around to face Mr. Freeze "Are you looking for this?" she said taking out the small test tube. Before Freeze could get up, Nightshade grabbed Camille's collar and slammed her against the wall.

"You almost got me killed!" she said slamming her one more time before Freeze pulled her away from Camille and stated fighting with Camille. Nightshade just limped to the other side of the room and slid down the wall. "Camille give it back, really what use could that bring," she said watching as the girl fought Freeze.

"The Light needs this, not sure why, but it's not my place to ask questions," she said avoiding Freeze's fist; after hearing this Nightshade smiled to herself and pushed her body up once more.

"Oh so The Light needs it, you should have said so earlier," She slowly made her way towards Freeze and Camille and with a quick movement she took the test tube from Camille and handed it to Freeze and just like that he stopped fighting. Nightshade grabbed Camille by her shoulders and dragged her out of the room while she protested.

"Why are you giving this back to me?" asked Freeze a little confused. Nightshade stopped walking although she was still holding a struggling Camille under her arm.

"Didn't I tell you I would also do anything to bring back the people I love?" she said and kept walking, "either way I don't really care what you do in here as long as it doesn't hurt anyone," she finished as the two girls walked out the door and back into the street. Nightshade tossed Camille a helmet and motioned her to get in the bike and so she did. They spent the rest of the ride not talking to each other until they reached Mount Justice. She parked the bike and both of them got off, Camille started to walk towards her room when she saw Nightshade installing herself in the couch.

"Aren't you going home?" she asked, "won't your parents be worried?"

"At this point, I don't think they would notice. By the way, do something like that again and I'll blow your brains out," she said turning around and giving Camille her back, the girl swallowed hard and slowly made her way into her room while Nightshade slowly fell asleep on the couch.


	13. The Shadow of the Past Pt I

-Thank you guys for reading my story, I don't own anything except for my characters; it's a short chapter but probably worth your while. Hope you like it,-

July 15-Star City- 6:00 P.M-

"_**Why do I have to do this?"**_ Asked Nightshade as she walked through the wide hall inside the City Hall of Star City. She was sent there by the team to be the body guard of some rich guy that arrived to the city last night and had requested the justice league for security. Nightshade walked past a doorman who asked her for ID, so she showed him the fake ID Robin and Kid Flash created for her.

"_**Because you are the only person available, do I need to remind you that I'm the middle of something really important?"**_ said Robin, Nightshade raised her eyebrow and grabbed her ID back.

"_**You are locked up in a room with Batman," she said, "I'm sure you'll be out in a couple of minutes,"**_ she said, _**"at least you are not drowning."**_

"_**It was technically your fault, anyway I have to go Nightshade," **_he said, she could hear the sound of a door going down from the other side of the comm.

"_**Are you hanging up on me? I'm really bored," **_she said.

"_**Want me to get Lance to entertain you?"**_ he asked obviously angry, Nightshade snorted and rolled her eyes.

"_**No need to, I'm already here. See you later,"**_ she disconnected her comm and opened the door to the last room of the hall. "Doctor Thomas Elliot?" she asked walking inside. There was only a small lamp on the desk which provided the only light for the room the chair was turned away from the door; but other than that it was a pretty normal office. Nightshade walked up to the chair and turned it around to see Thomas Elliot staring into space.

"Doctor?" she asked waiving her hand in front of his face, she spotted a couple of holes on his neck; they were really small which led her to believe he had been drugged. Nightshade took a step back and smiled when she felt something brushing up her leg. "Shadow Thief, haven't heard of you in a while," she said, after that laughter filled the room, it wasn't Shadow Thief's laughter, this one was more maniacal.

"So you are Nightshade," said a voice coming from a corner, "I heard you almost broke my killing record, but then you went and joined the heroes, what a shame, Zsasz sees potential in you,"

"Victor Zsasz, I know who you are, and I'm guessing the Riddler has something to do with this too," She said, the lights turned on and she could see everyone in the room. Victor Zsasz, his body marked with the number of his victims, Shadow Thief' shadow on the wall and the Riddler. The Riddler took a step forward and laughed, he was just as sick and twisted as Zsasz, but he was also rather angry with Nightshade, turning him into a dangerous opponent.

"You are not entirely wrong my dear, although you are missing other people in this room, can you guess who?" he asked getting close to her face. Nightshade backed away and covered her nose.

"I can see that your attitude is not the only thing that rot in Belle Reve. You stink, ever heard of mints," she said, "Savage; did you miss me that much you had to come pick me up? I never though you would work for The Light, new low guys," she mocked them when Vandal Savage walked out of the shadowed corner

"I sent someone, but it looks like it didn't work, so I came to finish the job myself. I wonder, why would Batman sent you to escort someone?" he said and motioned Zsasz to attack. Zsasz launched himself at Nightshade using a knife; she grabbed his arm, twisted it and threw him against the wall. Shadow Thief pulled her leg forcing her to the ground. Unable to move her arms Nightshade wrapped her legs around his neck and pulled him to the ground.

"Seems like lately I'm Batman's first choice babysitter. Aren't you like a martial arts expert Shadow?" She asked, the villains hurled themselves at her at the same time, Nightshade blocked their attacks and kicked them away from her. She Ran up to Zsasz but instead of hitting him, she jumped up and placing her hands on his shoulders she landed behind him which allowed her to kick him into the wall. Riddler came up to her and used it cane to try and hit her, but she grabbed it and pushed him away with it, Suddenly a red blast hit her and threw her against the wall, Klarion the Witch Boy stood on the other side of the room along with his cat.

"Emo boy?" said Nightshade as she rubbed her head.

"Enough! You have been calling me Emo boy for years, would you stop it already!" he snapped, and started throwing balls of dark energy towards Nightshade but she dodged them. He started using his magic making Nightshade jump around the room until she managed to push him away from her and into the wall, then all it took was a nod from Savage for the villains to attack again. This time their attacks had more effect, Nightshade fell to her knees and kicked Zsasz with a round-house kick. While still on the floor Zsasz grabbed his knife and stabbed her side, Nightshade's eyes winded as she felt the knife penetrate her stomach, but still she stood up. Her vision a little blurry and her legs a little shaky, but she made her way towards Savage.

"A little cocky for someone who is outnumbered five to one," said Savage watching Nightshade stagger towards him.

A smile formed on her face, "As if you don't know me. Rather than cocky I would say arrogant," she said still walking towards him, but her trip was cut short when she saw Shadow Thief approaching out of the corner of her eye and did a backflip avoiding the hit and returned it with a punch. She took out her knife and threw it at the Riddler pinning his jacket to the wall. Seeing that her back was now turned to him, Savage took the knife from the wall releasing the Riddler and stabbed her on the wound deepening it while Klarion threw some stuff at her that he had levitated using his magic. To get him permanently out of her way she aimed at his cat and threw a knife at him, this one hit him and the cat was fairly injured so he ran to its aid and disappeared from the room, but not before cursing Nightshade. Finally, she spat out blood and fell to the ground, her hands applying pressure to her wound.

"Actually I would say reckless, even stupid if you prefer. Now let's see how you handle this little Nightshade," said Savage throwing the bloody knife on the floor, and walking out of the room while the villains watched as Nightshade fell unconscious.

-Mount Justice- 8:36 P.M-

Batman, Wonder Woman and Huntress where standing in the middle of the room discussing Nightshade as they waited for her to return. The rest of the team was in the room next to that one practicing with Black Canary. Suddenly the screen on the computer popped up and a video started to play, as it did Huntress called the rest of the team to the main room. Nightshade was tied to a chair, her side was still bleeding and she looked as if she had been beaten to the point of unconsciousness. The room she was in looked moldy and it was very dark. Her head was low so they couldn't see her face; Camille stayed in the back, her arms crossed over her chest and her face slightly tilted to the side, the way a dog tilts its head when it doesn't understand what is going on.

The camera shook a little and the Riddler's face appeared on the screen, he smiled and waved. "I see everyone is here now," he said and moved away from the camera to stand next to Nightshade, he grabbed her hair and lifted her face. It was completely beaten, but the wounds were starting to disappear. "You are smart Batman, but let me test your team. I have a small challenge for them so they can find us before your friend runs out of time," he finished.

"What do you get from this?" asked Batman, his fists clenched and his jaw a bit tense, the Riddler smiled.

"Revenge Batman, I get revenge. Well here it goes; a hint to my location. What always runs but never walks, often murmurs, never talks, has a bed but never sleeps, has a mouth but never eats?" he said, Robin clutched his fists and was about to give the answer when Aqualad started talking.

"A river, who are you working with?" he asked.

"Unimportant. Maybe it was quite easy, here goes another hint, how much dirt is in a hole 3 acres square and 200 feet deep?" he smiled, this one took everyone longer, "come on is not that hard," he said, just then Nightshade started moving. Artemis unconsciously let out a deep breath, she had been holding back for a while now.

"None, because it's a hole," answered Batman, but that didn't help them. "I don't know what you are trying to do, but I'm not putting anyone else in my team at risk," he told The Riddler.

"We are going, wherever Nightshade is….sir," said Kid Flash stepping forward and then backing away a little after Batman glared at him.

"Oh insurgency! I like it," said the Riddler only to be glared at by Batman "If looks could kill," he said with a smile plastered in his face.

"No you are not, I'll send some Justice League member," Batman kept arguing, "she is my responsibility, all of you are, if you make a mistake and she dies, it's all on me." He was right; after all they were under age and there still existed the possibility that Nightshade might not make it out of this one thought Robin, but that thought just made him angrier.

"I thought we were past this, we are no longer kids and you know that," said Superboy, "we are not going to stay here while Nightshade is been beaten by some psycho," Batman looked at them, it was clear they were not kids anymore, but the risk was still far too great. The Riddler cleared his throat.

"The kids are almost right, but you see, it's not psycho, it's psychos," he said as Zsasz and Shadow Thief stepped out from behind Nightshade, Zsasz took out a knife and lifted Nightshade's head by her hair, he then placed the knife against her throat. "Now, for this to go well, I want the kids to play with us this time," Batman backed away, he knew that if he sent anyone other than the team, Nightshade would be dead before they even get a chance to set foot in the place. "Great, back to my game, last Riddle, What has 4 legs, runs day and night, but never gets anywhere?" The Riddle laughed at their confusion, "the clock's ticking," he said as Zsasz started to stick his knife into her arm and twisted it, even so Nightshade didn't scream.

"Stop!" yelled Robin, the Riddler smiled, "The Famous Lion Fountains at the museum, I know where she is, you touch her one more time, you won't be alive to see the end of your game," said Robin.

"Oh, we got the little bird upset, you mean we can't touch her like this?" he said and Zsasz punched her in the stomach, throwing her and the chair to the ground, Nightshade head bounced off the ground and she stopped moving.

"I warned you bastard," he said and looked back at the team, they nodded and they followed him. Batman stopped him, "I'm sorry, but this is no longer your call, we are leaving now," Batman let go of his arm and stepped back, Huntress laid her hand on his shoulder, she knew what he was thinking, but after all the team was right. The connection was lost and the screen faded to black.

"Why would the Riddler want to get revenge on Nightshade?" asked Wonder Woman.

"Nightshade and I fought the Riddler a while back, it got pretty bad and he was sent to Belle Reve. It was Nightshade who figured out his entire plan, I merely just played along," said Huntress.

"To think this all had to happen when I was finally coming to visit her. Isn't that a bit too convenient?" said Wonder Woman walking away from the other two when Huntress grabbed her arm.

"Don't you dare think this was staged, Nightshade would never do something like that," she said, Wonder Woman shoved her away and with a glare se left the room. All that was left to do was to maintain communication with the team and hope everything would work out. Batman open an image in his computer, it was the Ace Chemicals' building that was next to the Gotham City River, they had underground facilities and it was a block away from the museum. All of the clues where there, he sighed heavily starring at the image.

Finally Wonder Woman left Mount Justice leaving Batman, Huntress and Black Canary alone in the room. There was an overwhelming silence while Batman looked at the cameras of the Ace Chemical's building until Black Canary spoke up.

"What is the real reason?" she asked Huntress who was taken aback by the question, her faced showed a little bit of surprise before returning back to her usual poker face. She later looked at Batman who nodded.

"Nightshade used to work with the Light under the name of Nightcrawler. She was mainly an assassin, her victims include a few political figures and some low members of the Justice League, among others. Sometimes The Light would send her to do odd jobs with three other teens that lived in the facilities; therefore as you can see Nightshade is, a little special," she said but Batman cut her off.

"Trained by Ra's Al Ghul, Deathstroke, Savage, even the Joker. She was genetically modified giving her superpowers such as an accelerated healing factor and pyrokinesis, a formidable enemy and ally. Which is probably why The Light wants her back; they sent Camille to convince her, but they weren't counting on Camille's hatred towards Nightshade and her need to surpass her. It will be tough for Camille. I fought her once and she managed to get away," he said looking at Black Canary, her eyes widened a little, that meant that up until now she was going easy on everyone and that thought caused a shiver to run through Black Canary's spine.

"You knew all of this and still you let those two join the team?" she asked a little upset, after all it had taken her a while to gain Batman's partial trust and now a kid comes along and he lets her in easily.

"Nightshade quit a long time ago, Camille on the other hand is pretty harmless compared to the team," answered Huntress.

"Will they be okay?" asked Black Canary.

"Nightshade wouldn't die that easily. They'll be alright," said Huntress looking at the images on the screen and after a long moment of silence she said "I hope."

-Ace Chemicals- 9:45 P.M-

The team landed on the roof of the Ace Chemicals' building that was next to the Gotham City River, they had underground facilities and it was a block away from the museum. This was the building The Riddler was talking about, Miss Martian and Camille used their powers to transport the team into the building. They made their way to the last floor, but when the door of the elevator opened, they were attacked by Shadow Thief who pushed them out of the elevator and into the dark room; Rocket used her powers to give some light to it. Superboy started throwing things at the dark corners while Aqualad ordered Zatanna to work on a spell that could light up the room and after a while, she managed to do it. This revealed Shadow Thief standing next to Aqualad; Camille threw some blades at him accompanied by some of Artemis' arrows. Shadow Thief dodged them with ease, but didn't notice Robin sneaking behind him and that's when he kicked him damaging the suit that allowed him to move in the other dimension. Superboy took this chance to punch him into the wall; Shadow Thief got up and started attacking Superboy using his martial arts abilities to match his strength.

"Why are you putting your life on the line for a bitch like Nightshade?" he asked, "do you even know who she is? That girl is a professional assassin, a criminal, she even worked with your enemies," he finished just when Artemis' arrow hit him.

"We know," she said getting another arrow ready, Shadow Thief stared at them with widened eyes, he didn't expect them to know about Nightshade's past and so without any further discussion he disappeared. The team rushed through the door into another room, and there was Nightshade tied to the chair, she had her head down but at least she had stopped bleeding. Robin rushed to her and leaned next to the chair, he grabbed her face in his hands and looked at her, her wounds had started to heal and only slight bruises were left, he untied her and she fell into his arms.

"You said see you later right? So how about you open your eyes and stay with me," he said, Nightshade sank deeper into his arms, and he pressed her tighter to his chest. The Riddler walked up to the team followed by Zsasz, he swung his cane around managing to hit Miss Martian who was flying in his direction while Zsasz held a knife in his hand, but he remained still examining the room first.

"If you are trying to get back at Batman, this is not the way," said Robin still holding Nightshade.

"You are truly stupid, I'm not trying to get back at Batman. I'm getting back at Nightshade. Little bitch messed with my plans and then beat me to a pulp, and don't even get me started on what she did while working with the Light," he said pointing his cane at her, Zsasz finally stepped forward.

"She is not who you think she is, that girl's only interest is herself," he said and threw the knife at Robin, he couldn't move, if he did, the knife would hit Nightshade so he shielded her, but Miss Martian used her powers to change the course of the knife.

"Really Kids, you never learn your lesson, do you?" said Vandal Savage as he stepped out of the shadows. Robin turned back to face Nightshade, he felt her trying to get up and that's when he noticed that most of her wounds where gone and she was basically back to normal, which is completely impossible for a normal, _**powerless**_ human. Aqualad motioned the team to attack the villains as he ran up to Robin who was sitting on the floor.

"How is she doing?" asked Aqualad to Robin who was trying to hold her back, she was finally able to move away from him, get up and walk all the way towards the team, but on the way Camille threw herself at Nightshade and started hitting her but Nightshade kicked her away. Zsasz threw another knife at Robin, but he was able to move away and kick him in the face. He then ran all the way to get Camille off of Nightshade.

"What are you doing?" Yelled Superboy when he saw Camille going up against Robin and Nightshade. "Camille? Aren't you supposed to be on our side?" he kept talking as he pushed away Zsasz into the wall. Camille just looked at him and the rest of the team before going off to Vandal Savage's side.

"Message received. Nightshade, are you alright?" asked Zatanna as the team regrouped next to her. The wounds that were caused by her fight with Zsasz and Shadow Thief had completely disappeared. Nightshade realized what they were all looking at, it was too late to cover it up so she just ran her hand through her hair letting out a big sigh before making her way through them.

"Was this all really fucking necessary?" she asked Savage, raising her hand and pointing at the team.

"Nightshade, do you mind explaining why your wounds are disappearing?" asked Rocket saying what was on everyone else's mind. Vandal Savage and Camille stood across from them.

"Not now guys," she said trying to avoid the question.

"Really? Still not telling?" asked Kid Flash, Nightshade barely looked at him or at anyone in the team.

"It's an accelerated healing factor achieved by a genetic mutation experiment that took place in our lab," said Vandal Savage, Nightshade glared at him, "come on Nightshade, they were going to find out sooner or later. It doesn't really make a difference who tells them," he finished and nodded at Camille who launched herself at the team and started attacking. Zatanna tried to draw her off with magic, but it had very little effect on her, instead Camille kicked her away and turned around to attack Rocket who was hurting her with her powers. Nightshade stood on the sidelines; it was like watching a wild animal being set free at the zoo she thought while looking at Camille. She then turned around to face Savage, he smiled at her as if expecting her to do something more.

"You know what you have to do," he said.

"I'm going to cut your fucking throat once this is over," she told him directing her gaze towards the team. In a matter of minutes, Camille had exhausted them while she still had energy. She had actually started using her other powers, such as flying and moving object with her mind. This saved her a lot of energy since she barely had to move to attack the team; she had taken care of Miss Martian first that represented the biggest threat to her within the group. After that she took Robin and threw him against the wall; this was when Nightshade ran up to them to check on them, they were barely conscious. She slowly pulled them all away leaning them against the wall noticing the bruises and cuts from the fight. Once she was done, Nightshade turned to face Camille, she was standing across from her when Nightshade's fist lit up and was surrounded in a blazing red fire.

"This is going to hurt," said Nightshade before throwing a punch at Camille. That surprised her, she wasn't expecting Nightshade to use her powers, but once she did Camille let out a small smile.

"Now this is what I was talking about!" she yelled and the fight between the two girls started. Nightshade started off with a defensive stance, she hadn't done much all night but she still didn't want to waste a lot of energy on Camille. On the other hand, this was the fight Camille had been waiting for therefore she threw punches and kicks like crazy. Once that didn't work she started to throw blades at Nightshade that as soon as she saw them she formed a huge fire wall that didn't allow the blades to touch her since they burned instantly when they came in contact with the fire.

"Is that all?" asked Nightshade; "this is your big revenge?" she kept talking shooting fireballs at Camille who tried to avoid them. She couldn't, they would just hit her and every time she tried to hit back Nightshade would just put up a wall and remain unharmed. Enraged, and exhausted, Camille's eyes started glowing and Nightshade's eyes widened and she fell to the ground holding her head. She could feel Camille trying to get into her mind and it was so strong she about to give up when her vision blurred and then everything went black. She fell to the ground as the team was starting to get up, they looked at Camille, then at Nightshade.

"What did you do?" asked Rocket with her right hand on her left arm covering a small wound, "What did you do to Nightshade!" she yelled as she and the team made their way towards Nightshade.


	14. The Shadow of the Past Pt II

Camille looked up at them and smiled just when a loud thud was heard. The team turned around to see Batman storming into the room through a now broken door. "Savage, stay away from my team," he said as he made his way towards them. As soon as he saw him the Riddler started to sneak out of the room, but Rocket noticed and stopped him by dragging him back into the group and tying him up to one of the pipes that ran along the wall. "I don't know what you are planning, but—" he started but the loud noise outside the room interrupted him and The Joker barged into the room with an army of supervillains.

"Sorry I was late, traffic in Gotham is a bitch," he said jumping off from Mammoth, he walked past Batman and the team to stand next to Camille, "Ain't that right Batsie?" he finished with a smile as his eyes landed on Nightshade who was still on the floor. The team and the villains that had now been joined by Zsasz stood across from one another with Batman, the Joker, Camille and Savage in the middle. Savaged moved his hand and the villains started attacking. Batman moved out of Mammoth's way as he launched towards him. They were outnumbered by the amount of villains, along with The Joker, Zsasz, and Vandal Savage, stood Ghost Girl, Copy Cat, Shimmer, Mammoth, Witch Boy, Copperhead, Solomon Grundy and of course Camille.

While Batman dealt with Mammoth, Superboy took on Solomon Grundy, the only other villain that more or less matched his strength. Grundy threw him to the wall but Superboy counterattacked by kicking him in the head then throwing a punch at his chest making a hole through, but this didn't stop Grundy.

"Solomon Grundy crush small Superman," He kept attacking Superboy to the point where he was on the ground crawling his way to the wall. Suddenly angry he got up and took the time to examine Grundy. Thanks to the hole in his chest his heart was exposed, Superboy guessed he would have to go through it to stop him so when Solomon Grundy charged at him Superboy ran and aimed his for his heart. Once his fist and Grundy's heart came in contact, his hand went right through and Grundy fell to the ground unconscious.

On the other side of the room Aqualad was fighting against Zsasz, he refrained himself from using his swords, seeing that Zsasz was tired from the fight earlier. Even thought Zsasz was constantly attacking him with his knives while Aqualad dodged.

"what's the matter kid, scared," he said as he threw one of his knifes at him, but it hit the wall when Aqualad moved out of the way, also feeling tired Aqualad used his swords to start attacking Zsasz. He took the first blow, but by the second attack he started dodging them and even throwing a kick occasionally at Aqualad's face. Aqualad moved back until he touched the wall, he looked at Zsasz who was holding his knife tightly and had raised his hand ready to stab him when he kicked his hand sending the knife flying out of his hand then grabbed him and pinned him to the wall only to electrocute him into unconsciousness.

"Not really scared, just grossed out," he said looking at Zsasz' unconscious body and the scars that ran along his torso and his upper thighs. He then turned around, the rest of the team seemed to be doing fine, except for Artemis who was fighting Copperhead. She had shot most of her arrows with no effect, Copperhead had dodged most of them and the ones that she hadn't had caused minimal damage to her body. On the other hand Artemis was hurt from Copperhead's scratches and had started bleeding.

"I don't think I've seen you before," she said as she took out another arrow, Copperhead took out a knife and started swinging it around getting closer to Artemis, not allowing her to throw the arrow. That was until Artemis managed to get far enough to throw it and the arrow exploded right in front of Copperhead's face. The explosion sent her flying against the wall forcing her to drop her weapons. Taking this opportunity, Artemis ran up to her and kicked her in the face causing her head to hit the wall once again and slip into unconsciousness. She heard a loud thud and turned around only to see that Kid Flash had landed on her feet, she looked down at him while he looked up and smiled.

Kid flash had been running around trying to avoid Ghost Girl's touch, but he was running out of energy and was getting slower as time passed by; the food in his small compartment had been reduced to a single candy. He was just really spooked by the little cannibal girl. Ghost Girl kept appearing where he was getting at and he had to move out of the way which usually resulted in him crashing against the wall. The last one had been next to Artemis. He looked at her and smiled sweetly.

"Could you help me out babe?" he said, Artemis looked at Ghost Girl that was walking their way, she looked a bit more deranged than when they first met her and therefore scarier. Artemis pulled out an arrow and shot it at her creating a net tangling her hands and feet, Kid Flash ran up to her and grabbed the rope. He found a place to hang her and left her upside down, soon enough the girl's blood went to her head and that was the last time Ghost Girl terrorized Kid Flash, at least for now.

Meanwhile Rocket and Miss Martian were dealing with Copy Cat, they had been going at it for a while now, Rocket kept blasting her while Miss Martian used her powers to move objects around the room in her direction, some of them hit her, some of them hit her copies. The girls where tired and annoyed, but everyone else was fighting with someone different and it was impossible to get back up in this type of situation. Rocket used a force field that covered them both when she saw Copy Cat charging at them with a large metal bar that Miss Martian took away with her powers and returned the blow to what turned out to be one of her copies.

Having been done with Witch Boy, after using a lot of spells to match Klarion's chaotic magic and watching him disappear, Zatanna turned to look at Robin who was fighting with Shimmer, both were equally fast and agile, but Robin had his belt with him so he pulled out a couple birdarangs that managed to distract Shimmer long enough for him to attack. He kicked and punched her knocking her into the wall. Shimmer didn't like it that much so she returned the blows and pinned Robin to the floor. Using his legs he grabbed her neck and pulled her to the ground taking her off of him, being able to stand up he took out another birdarang. Not wanting to fall for that again Shimmer grabbed the birdarang with her hand, but this one started beeping and by the time she realized it, it went off in her face.

"Fucking kid," she said as she came out coughing, her face all messed up from the explosion, suddenly Robin kicked her into the wall and left her there after she didn't move. He ran up to help Miss Martian and Rocket with Copy Cat but Camille got in their way. She was using her powers to stop them from harming Copy Cat and it was working until a fireball knocked her away from the team. They all turned in the direction the fireball had come from and on the other end, Nightshade. She was standing there, her hand still stretched out and a red flame surrounding it.

"Are you shitting me? I mean I knew you were stupid, but not to this extent. After all this years you still take orders from him?" she said pointing at Savage, and then she threw another fireball at her but she managed to dodge this one. Robin looked at her, it didn't feel like Nightshade. Her mask had fallen off and her eyes where a bit lighter, they looked almost reddish. The way she talked was also very different, it was a bit lower.

"Oh look at that, has Nightcrawler finally decided to step out and play?" said the Joker from the other side of the room; at the sound of that name Batman turned to look at her, but before he could move Mammoth threw him against the wall. Nightshade turned to look at the Joker and glared at him, "Ok I see you're still angry about before, but Nightcrawler you have to understand, you were the one that chose to leave," he said just as Camille released a wave of sharp, small purple blades. Even though Nightshade tried to dodge they managed to cut her along the arms. But the bleeding stopped shortly and the only thing that remained where her torn clothes. Nightshade started attacking Camille, barely giving her any room to do anything more than dodging, after Camille fell to the ground Nightshade walked up to her.

"If you really think about it, you are nothing more than a pawn to get to me. I think I´ve said it before, but your anger is misplaced," she whispered in her ear then directed her attention to Vandal Savage and walked up to him completely ignoring the Joker.

"What did you think? That by calling me here I would start working with you again?" she asked Savage grabbing him by the collar and pining him to the wall, Savage stared at her, terrified for a seconds, but then a smirk formed on his face. "I thought we had an agreement,"

"Oh, stop holding back and fight!" said Camille wiping blood off her mouth.

"You were holding back?" asked Kid Flash looking at her and then glancing at Camille all beaten up and barely being able to get up, Nightshade stared at Camille then at the team.

"You broke our contract when you decided to play hero," he shoved her hand away but received a punch, Kid Flash and Batman ran up to her and held her shoulders to stop her from hitting Vandal Savage. Robin and Superboy landed at their feet. She looked up and saw the team scattered across the room, they had been injured by Copy Cat who stood in the middle panting and tired. Camille got up and walked up to Vandal Savage. Copy Cat let out a loud scream as she launched herself at Nightshade separating her form the other two. Copy Cat threw a couple punches and tried to scratch her face but she caught her by the arm.

"How is your arm?" she asked, and just as she touched her Nightshade's hand lit itself on fire forcing Copy Cat to let out a painful scream as Nightshade threw her against the wall. Copy Cat's glove slid down her arm to reveal a severely burnt skin, but it was an old wound. "Doesn't look too good," she said. The team watched as Nightshade walked away from Copy Cat towards them.

"That is all I wanted to see," said the Joker clapping as the team got up, "welcome back Nightcrawler, it's been a while," The Joker moved forward and touched her shoulder.

"You see kids, Nightshade and Camille are lab rats, of course Nightshade left before we could complete our little experiment making her powers a slightly unstable and of course they are incomplete, or flawed. Now, you might have noticed this is not really Nightshade; well when Nightshade can't cope with something Nightcrawler takes over, she is Nightshade's other personality, or so to speak," he laughed. The team looked at her, holding onto the expectation. That was when Nightshade raised her hand and punched the joker in the stomach.

"Go to hell," she said walking towards the team and standing with them.

"I was afraid you would say that," he said and in the blink of an eye Camille was standing beside him, "you have turned soft Nightcrawler," with that Camille instead of turning towards the team she went straight towards Savage and used her powers to corner him.

"What is the meaning of this Joker?" asked Savage, his back against the wall feeling like a trapped animal, the Joker laughed and from the corner of his eye he saw the Riddler trying to get away again. All it took was a hand movement for Copperhead to grab the Riddler and pull him back into the room. The other villains where starting to stand up again as the team regrouped on the other side, including Batman.

"We don't want to share credit with The Light, I want all the credit for me!" he exclaimed, just then Nightshade let out a small laugh. Angry and surprised the Joker turned around to face Nightshade, "What do you think you are doing?" he asked her as she turned around to face him and grabbed his neck pulling him to the ground, she placed herself on top of him and pressed her knife against his throat, just a bit closer and he would have start bleeding, Seeing this Batman threw a few Batarangs that embedded themselves on Nightshade's skin. Standing up she glared at him before pulling them out of her arm and then raising her hand she created a fire wall that separated the team from her, Savage, the Joker and Camille.

"Looks like your masterpiece turned against both of you," said Zsasz to The Joker and Savage as the wall that divided him from them rose. The team started screaming after Nightshade, they shouted for her to stop, but she just ignored them.

"You know, you could have at least drop by to say hi," said The Joker. Nightshade gave him a loathing glare, she ran her hand through her wounds and the healing process was accelerated. "Oh, that's right. _YOU_ can do that,"

"The way I see it, there are only two possible ways to end this once and for all: either I end up dead or you two end up back in the dirt with the rest of the pests," she said looking at Savage and The Joker. Camille launched herself at Nightshade while she threw a couple fire balls towards her but Camille managed to dodge them. Nightshade wasn't so lucky with the blades. This time Nightshade decided that if she wanted to beat her, she had to use the skill she knew most and it wasn't her pyrokinesis.

She ran up to Camille and started throwing high kicks at her face; Camille took a couple but blocked the rest. She extended her hand to throw some blades, but Nightshade grabbed her by the wrist, twisted her arm and pulled her towards the wall. Camille hit her head against it, but managed to keep her balance. She then raised her hand and started controlling Nightshade; she started levitating following Camille's hand and was sent flying across the room into the back wall.

"I don't think you understand how this works Nightshade," Said the Joker leaning next to her, Nightshade looked at him, she had tired eyes and small cuts everywhere, "you have no real power here, not anymore," he smiled and walked away from the girls, but not before Nightshade threw a knife in his direction that hit the wall right next to Savage who was startled by the knife while the Joker's smile grew wider. Nightshade pulled out one of her guns and aimed it at Camille.

"I thought you had changed, but you are still the same, Nightcrawler," said Camille, Nightshade loosen her grip on the gun and Camille took this as an opportunity to regain control over Nightshade. Camille moved her hand and Nightshade crashed against the wall making the gun fall out of her hand and land on the floor. Nightshade hit her head hard against the wall so it took her a while to get back on her feet. Camille didn't waste the opportunity, she kicked Nightshade once again and managed to get on top of her, just then an arrow hit the floor in front of Camille's feet releasing smoke followed by a cold bomb coming from Batman's suit, Nightshade sat up on the ground and Robin made his way towards her, she was a little dizzy, but managed to stand up by holding onto Robin's shoulders.

"Looks like baby Nightshade needs help," Camille mocked her before getting kicked in the face by Artemis and receiving a blast from Rocket.

"Shut up, you are not eve funny," said Artemis, her lip was cut and blood was coming out from it.

"Or insulting for that matter," completed Rocket, who had a large deep cut along her arm. Camille looked around, once again she was the only one left aside from Savage that was fighting with Batman and The Joker that was either getting in Batman's way or helping him with Savage. There was no way of telling what he was doing. Robin placed Nightshade's other arm over his shoulder and walked her to the corner of the room. Nightshade looked up, he looked beaten, his suit was ripped and scars were visible everywhere; Robin leaned next to her.

"How are you feeling?" he whispered. He searched her face for any sign of emotion, there was nothing; Nightshade's wounds started to close faster and she was able to stand up, but she still needed to lean on Robin. They walked up to the team that was fighting Camille, but before they reached them Nightshade grabbed Robin by his collar, they stared at each other, he looked into her eyes and it was clear to him that she was not Nightshade, that person was not Jade.

She smiled before letting go of him; and limped away towards Camille taking out her other gun. "You are right, I haven't changed at all. Still the same old Nightcrawler, now do you really want to be like that?" said Nightshade pointing the gun at her, the team stepped back a little. Since this was not Nightshade, they couldn't tell was she was thinking and it was hard enough with Nightshade. Camille dashed forward to take the gun from Nightshade's hands, but she moved away so fast and easily, all Camille managed to do was scratch the air.

Camille tried again, this time she also released a few purple blades, having one of them stab Nightshade's forearm but her grip remained strong on the gun. Nightshade heard the screaming from the team and sighing she tossed the gun towards Camille.

"Do whatever the fuck you want to," she said stepping in front of Camille. The girl grabbed it and pointed it at Nightshade, then turned around, aimed the gun towards the Joker and pulled the trigger. He managed to move, but the bullet still brushed against his skin, still all he did was smile.

"I'm not going to be another piece in your game," said Camille pointing her gun at his head, without caring about what the team or Batman were saying, her hand trembled a little and she moved the gun and tossed it to the side where Batman caught it and put it away. Camille turned around and saw Nightshade's eyes slowly turning from the light reddish color to her usual dark brown eyes. "I'm sorry," she said walking towards them.

The Joker looked at the whole scene with his mouth wide open, Camille had just sat there and now it looked like she was actually reflecting over her actions. It grossed him out, but then, inside his twisted little mind he found the perfect solution for his problem.

"Let's test one of the flaws in our experiment," she said and without hesitating he grabbed the gun Nightshade had dropped that was near him on the ground, aimed it at Nightshade and shot. The first one to react was Camille who jumped in front of Nightshade just in time to shield her from the bullet which ended up going through her chest killing her before she even hit the ground. Nightshade dropped to her knees, she didn't say anything, she just stared at Camille's dead body and reached out to pull her in but stopped half way and just sat there looking down at her. It was her fault that Camille was now dead, she thought, everything that had happened that day was her fault. Rocket walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder before pulling her in for a hug.

"That was fun, shall I do it again?" said the Joker aiming again at Nightshade when Batman came in between him and his target and took the gun out of his hand twisting it in the process. Quickly the Joker turned to see that Savage had left the room and now he was all alone so all he did was smile.

"I hate guns," he said as he punched the Joker directly in the face.

-July 16- Mount Justice- 3:00 A.M-

The team arrived to the base with nothing more than tiredness and one member short. Concerned they looked back at Nightshade who was just walking into the common room and she was about to sit down when Batman called for her as he walked past them. With a big sigh Nightshade followed him into a small private room, they watched as she solemnly walked away without a quirk remark or a sarcastic comment, of course they weren't expecting one.

"Are you aware of the consequences this brings?" he asked looking down at her. Nightshade gave him a slight nod. "This is not only unforgivable, but you put my whole team at risk. I have told you before, I don't like the way you work. You need to control yourself!" he continued chewing her out. Nightshade took it all in silence until Batman stopped talking.

"Don't say I can't control myself! I was doing fine until…" she stopped short.

"Until what Nightshade? You tried to kill them! Clearly Nightcrawler is still a part of you and if all it takes is being under pressure, then I don't think you can handle this," he asked

"Do I need to remind you that you were the one that called me here. You wanted me to be part of this team. Against all my warnings and Huntress's warnings you still decided to let me in your little club," she said.

"I have my reasons for calling you. But now you were exposed and this means the Justice League can't overlook this," he said sighing. Nightshade shut her mouth and walked out of the room with Batman only to find the whole team waiting outside the door, Batman gave them a glare but Nightshade looked at them for any sign of empathy but the glaring Batman intimidated them, including Robin.

"I'm taking you to Belle Reve, until then you'll be in my custody," he said as he walked in front of Nightshade.

"Wait, she has been of great help for this team, and for Huntress. You can't just throw her in jail with the rest of the criminals," said Artemis.

"Nightshade has been a valuable team member and a friend, you should think this over," said Aqualad but Batman ignored them and kept walking.

"Hey I know what that feels like, being controlled by them is not something that can be easily undone," said Superboy, the team kept going on about it when Nightshade cut in.

"Guys! Stop. I'll be fine," she said while smiling and walked out with Batman not bothering to look back at them. Zatanna laid a hand on Robin's shoulder and then walked out with the rest of the team leaving him standing there alone.


	15. Prison Break

-July 24-Belle Reve-9:35 A.M-

"I really, honestly thought you were kidding," said Nightshade dressed in an orange prison suit as she walked in front of Batman, he glared at her without saying a word, "but by the time I realized you don't make jokes it was a bit too late," she said looking back at him, raising her handcuffed hands and pointing at the black collar on her neck. Seeing that he didn't answer and that he wouldn't answer they kept walking in silence through the halls of Belle Reve. Nightshade looked around, each time they passed a different cell the women inside would all press themselves against the glass door to check if what they were seeing was true, among them were Poison Ivy, Cheetah, Ghost Girl and Copy Cat and the only thing separating them from her was that scrawny looking glass wall with tiny holes in it.

"You do realize I'll get killed in here," she said occasionally eyeing the cells really trying not to mind the constant glares and mocking smiles.

"I'm aware of that, either way the collar keeps them from doing anything to you. Keep in mind it also works the other way around," he glared again just as they stopped in front of an empty cell; Nightshade let out a sigh of relieve, at least she could sleep without worrying over whether or not her cell mate would kill her. "See you in ten years," he said as she walked into the cell and it shut behind her and the handcuffs dropped to the floor. Nightshade walked up to the bed and threw herself in.

Before she knew it, it was lunch time and a guard came to fetch her, given the fact that she had put a lot of people in Belle Reve, and that it was obvious they would hold a grudge against her she was to be accompanied by someone every time she stepped out of her cell. The two of them walked into the dining hall and the moment she set foot into the room, all of the women turned to look at her. Some of them eyed her with spite, others with reserve and others with vicious eyes. Nightshade and the guard stood in line to get her lunch when the guard turned to look at her and let out a small giggle.

"Man isn't it good to be popular," she said mockingly, Nightshade glared at her and took her tray to an empty table in the back. Shortly after Cheetah and Copy Cat, with her burnt arm uncovered, showed up at the table. The guard moved closer to her. Nightshade didn't even bother to look up, she just kept eating until Copy Cat spoke.

"What happened Nightshade?" she asked with a sarcastic tone, "They got tired of you?" Nightshade looked up, eyed her and then went back to her plate. This made Copy Cat mad and she stabbed the table with a fork right next to Nightshade's hand. The guard reacted and took out her gun which Cheetah kicked away before punching her in the face.

"Thank you, I've been dying to do that all afternoon, even though I've known her for like an hour," said Nightshade looking up at Cheetah. Laughing she tried to punch Nightshade, but she grabbed her fist and twisted it, "won't you leave me alone? I'm in the middle of a grieving process," she said and got up from the table, Copy Cat laughed at the statement and kicked Nightshade.

"Please, grieving? You? For whom, that Camille girl? I'm sure you didn't even like her in the first place and now you are telling me that you are grieving her death?" she said throwing a punch that was blocked by Nightshade using the food tray, "do you even know how to do that?" she kept talking and fighting Nightshade. Cheetah budged into the fight only to receive a punch from Nightshade making her back away for a while; soon she was surrounded by a lot of people but she took them all. She threw high kicks at their faces and then would switch to low kicks that made them fall to the ground. She would punch them either on the side or in the face and any hit they threw would be blocked with the exception of some punches and kicks that she wasn't able to block. After being thrown into a table Nightshade took some of the forks on it and used them to pin some of them to the wall by their clothes and finished by giving Copy Cat a punch.

"Anyone else?" she said looking at the others that were still sitting down on their chairs, "I can't take any more of this crap, definitely not in the mood for pointless fights," she said out loud letting go of Copy Cat.

"I agree with you," said a voice coming from the balcony that looked over the dining hall, Nightshade raised her head to see Amanda Waller looking down at her. She held out a small button and her collar started beeping before giving Nightshade an electric shock. Nightshade tried to rip it off using her hands but the electricity knocked her out. By the time Nightshade regained consciousness she was in a completely different room; still the same cold and hard floor from which she pushed herself up, but once she looked up there were no tables or people, just white walls that made the light bounce from them into her eyes which made it hard for her to open them completely. The sound of a door sliding open made her turn around only to see Amanda Waller walking up to her. I really wonder if Batman knows about this place, she thought as Amanda Waller walked closer; she suddenly stopped a few feet away from her and examined Nightshade from head to toe.

"Robbery, aggravated assault, arson, vandalism, obstruction of justice, kidnaping and let's not forget about murder, and you are barely sixteen," she said walking closer to Nightshade while waving around a big file, "the list keeps going, but I don't have enough time to name them all," she finished standing next to Nightshade.

"I'm impressed, honestly," said Nightshade while a smile formed on her face, "now would you mind telling me how you got those files?"

"You should be locked up in here for the rest of your shitty life, but thanks to your work with the Justice League you get special treatment," she said while Nightshade's smile grew wider, "you must be thinking it's nice to be you right now. After that stunt you pulled in the dining hall no one is going to bother you again and you will be out in no time. Well guess what, I'll make sure you never leave this place," she said, the look on Nightshade's face changed, it went from smiling to serious. "That is unless you decide to help me out with a small mission," just then the door opened and some guards brought in Black Spider, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Killer Frost and King Shark. All of them stood there looking at Nightshade in silence until Deadshot broke it.

"What is a kid doing here?" he asked Amanda who looked at Nightshade before answering.

"This kid here just beat up half the women's population of Belle Reve, and I have no doubt she could do that again," she said.

"How about we check?" said Killer Frost cracking her knuckles. Nightshade looked at Amanda who nodded.

"Whatever, but I need to change first," she explained and disappeared with Amanda into a room where her black and gray suit hanged on the wall. After a few minutes Nightshade came out fully suited, mask included. "Much better, that orange thing is incredibly uncomfortable," she said stretching out her arms. To them, the only thing they saw was a kid playing around, nothing more so they didn't understand why Amanda would want them all to fight her.

"Oh, Nighty Night!" yelled Harley in her usual perky voice while raising her arm and pointing at Nightshade. She rolled her eyes and looked at Amanda.

"Nightshade, no powers allowed, this is just a spar, also drop the belt" Amanda cleared up before stepping aside. Nightshade did as told and she unbuckled the belt allowing it to fall to the ground and pushing it away with her foot. The first one to go towards her was Killer Frost who jumped at her to which Nightshade reacted by moving away from her at the last minute and letting her crash against the wall. Next was Captain Boomerang who tried to punch her in the face only to have Nightshade grab his fist and twist it until there was a small cracking sound. Deadshot couldn't believe what he was seeing, the kid had easily avoided and harmed two out of the six people in the group with the smallest effort possible. Right after Captain Boomerang Black Spider ran towards Nightshade and kicked her on the side, she crashed against the wall and used it to lean on while lifting her feet and kicking Black Spider away from her. Then just as she raised her hand to throw a punch it was frozen by Killer Frost.

"Hey what about the no powers rule?" she asked.

"I said Nightshade no powers," explained Amanda Waller watching the fight from the sidelines. Nightshade sighed and while kicking Black Spider she looked at Killer Frost.

"You know I recently met someone that did the same thing," she said looking at her hand, "it didn't end well for him," she crashed her hand against the wall and the ice shattered in small pieces leaving, of course, some cuts in her hand that started to close almost instantly. The group watched as this happened and drew back a little. Just then Harley Quinn jumped at Nightshade and pinned her to the floor.

"We haven't played in a long time Nightshade," she said throwing a punch. Nightshade moved her head away and Harley ended up punching the floor making a small hole in the cement. Nightshade's eyes widened when she saw the mark; recovering she wrapped her legs around Harley's neck and pulled her down to the floor before getting up from the ground. Then she ran up to King Shark and jumped over his head landing on his back; trying to get her off of him he started to hit himself and crash into walls. Nightshade redirected him towards Killer Frost and Captain Boomerang that were standing up and forced him to smash them against the wall leaving the three out of the fight. Nightshade jumped off King Shark and into Black Spiders to finish him off with a kick.

"Okay that's enough," A bullet was fired in her direction but hit the wall instead, Nightshade turned around to see Deadshot with his wrist gun aiming at her. She raised her arms in the air and stood there, "I get your point, you can stop now," he said without lowering the gun. Harley stood up from behind Nightshade with a pipe and was ready to hit Nightshade when the girl kicked her in the stomach, grabbed the pipe, ducked the bullet Deadshot had fired and threw the pipe towards him keeping him distracted while she ran up to him and kneed him in the face.

"Sorry, I don't like being point at with a gun, it puts me a little on edge," she said standing beside him grabbing the pipe as it fell after being thrown. She walked away from them and picked up her belt from the floor to fasten it around her waist. The group started getting up from the floor and sat there looking at Amanda and Nightshade that were standing side by side, they regrouped and stood there in the middle of the room.

"As of now you are all part of the Task Force X, I need you all for another mission this time in Bialya," said Waller, the way she talked about the missions resembled Batman's way of doing it, "Queen Bee has taken a few political hostages from the neighboring country Qurac and refuses to release them. Now unless they are back in Qurac by next week an unprecedented war will break out, your mission is to bring them back. Alive!" she exclaimed.

"You want us to break into the Bialya Capitol? That is the most guarded place in the whole country, it's impossible," said Captain Boomerang walking up to Amanda.

"That's why I'm sending you, what better choice than a group of dangerous and disposable criminals for a suicide mission," she said with a smile and started to walk out, "don't forget that with the push of a button your head goes boom," she said and the door closed behind her. Nightshade examined the necks of the group, there was a scar in the form of an X so she assumed that was what she was the bomb Amanda was talking about.

-June 25-Bialya- 9:26 P.M-

"Who would have thought walking down in the sewers of Bialya would be so much fun!" squealed Harley as she splashed around the dirty water making the rest of the group turn away in disgust. Nightshade walked in the front right next to Deadshot, Killer Frost, Black Spider and Captain Boomerang where right behind them while King Shark walked behind Harley. The place stunk and the floor they were walking in felt a little bit slippery.

"Why is someone like you here?" asked Deadshot turning his head to look at Nightshade, she smiled and without looking at him she answered.

"I made some very powerful people very mad," they kept walking for a while until they reached their destination, "are you sure it's here?" she asked looking at Deadshot who nodded as he climbed the stairs and then moved away the sewer's lid. He stuck his head out and made sure they weren't being watched, he got out and waited for the rest of them to be out to put the lid back in place. The group then climbed to the top of one of the buildings and found the location of the Capitol where Queen Bee was staying with the hostages. "So what's the plan?" she asked looking back at the group.

They divided in different groups leaving Harley Quinn to manage a way to get into the building past the guards at the gate, so Harley Quinn being Harley Quinn flashed the guards and then while they were distracted she killed them by smashing their heads with her hammer. Meanwhile King Shark, Black Spider and Killer Frost made their way in through the back. Once the front was clear the other three walked into the Capitol and where now sneaking around the halls until they found a guard who they grabbed and stripped so that Deadshot could wear the uniform. "I always like a man in uniform," said Harley biting her lip while looking at him.

"Did you, by any chance, fucked her?" asked Nightshade sitting against the wall.

"Oh it was a wild ride!" squealed Harley while Deadshot shook his head in regret. They simply waited form another guard to come by so that Captain Boomerang could have a uniform and they took Nightshade and Harley as their prisoners directly into Queen Bee's room where the other hostages were standing around, or more like worshiping Queen Bee.

"What is going on?" asked Captain Boomerang holding onto Nightshade.

"Queen Bee hypnotizes men and turns them into her boy toys," said Nightshade keeping her head low, "so be careful," she finished just as they reached Queen Bee's throne.

"What is this?" she asked stepping down from her chair and making her way towards the four of them, "Didn't I say no women prisoners?" she said eying the two girls and then the guards a little suspicious of their actions.

"We thought you would be interested in this peculiar pair, they both worked with the Joker," said Deadshot pushing them forward.

"Hey! Watch it!" said Harley Quinn to Deadshot. Queen Bee grabbed her face and used her nails to make a small cut in her cheek.

"I see," she said letting go, "and what would your business be with me," she kept talking this time looking at Nightshade who kept her head low the whole time and just when she reached out to grab her face Killer Frost, Black Spider and King Shark stormed into the room followed by a bunch of guards. "What is going on?!" she yelled looking at the new group of people that had walked in and turning her back on the others allowing Nightshade to kick her in the back.

"We are just going to take those people over there if you don't mind," she said looking at Queen Bee.

"Nightshade?" she asked a bit shocked, but this disappeared from her face the moment Nightshade smiled, "Stand back!" she yelled to her guards and they stood on the sidelines forming a circle around them.

"I'm going to ask again. What is going on and why does she know you?" asked Capitan Boomerang ready to take out one of his boomerangs.

"Did I not say that? She's just an old acquaintance," she said gazing at Queen Bee and then at the group.

"_**No you didn't" said Amanda in their comm. "Now make it out of there with the hostages and no more surprises or I'll blow your heads off,"**_

"Just an old acquaintance? More like a victim. The first time I met you, you were here with The Joker, beat my men and then let him threaten me. The next time you came here with Huntress, although it was a new name and suit, it was still the same twisted attitude. Now what? You are back with the other side? If so I doubt Savage sent you," she asked looking back at Nightshade. Queen Bee gave a slight nod and the guards started attacking the group. Just as they did the group scattered around the room to cover more area, as they did Nightshade ended up on the same side as Deadshot and Harley.

"So they powerful people you made angry where—" Deadshot started but Nightshade cut him off.

"The Justice League, the Injustice League, The Light, you name it," she said kicking away one of the guards.

"Now that I remember Mr. J said something about Nighty Night going off to Batman," she said while she ducked a punch and returned it with a kick. The group kept fighting the guards while Queen Bee stayed on the other side of the room with the hostages next to her. Nightshade looked at her as she whispered thing in their ear and just like that they were suddenly being attacked by the hostages they were supposed to protect. She kept watching as Queen Bee sneaked away from the room. Dodging an oncoming punch and getting away from the crowd she made her way towards Queen Bee, but was interrupted by some of the guards so she shot them to get them permanently out of her way.

"Kid where are you going?" asked Deadshot still inside the crowd watching Nightshade as she ran towards a back door.

"Getting Queen Bee back so we can get this over with," she yelled, her voice fading as she went out the door. Nightshade ran through the hall listening to Queen Bee's heels resounding through so she silently tailed the noise until she was finally able to see Queen Bee going into a room so she followed inside. The room had white walls, nicely decorated with framed pictures and paintings, the floor was a soft reddish carpet and Queen Bee standing in the middle of the room. Nightshade's hand lit itself on fire just as she opened her palm and closed it again to form a fist.

"Oh don't get aggressive with me Nightshade. I heard that you took down Savage's little hunt. It must have been hard," she said looking at her hand.

"Not really, I had help," she said, "I really just came here to tell you that I'll be taking your hostages and then you can do whatever the hell you want with your country, so release them," she said as the fire went out and Queen Bee smiled at her.

"Sure thing, right after the main show," she said and just then a huge hole formed on the wall and Killer Frost, Harley Quinn and Deadshot came flying into the room. Nightshade lifted up her head to see King Shark, Captain Boomerang and Black Spider walking through the hole, their eyes lost in the distance and she just knew that they had been hypnotized by Queen Bee all of them but Deadshot, "a tough nut to crack, this should be interesting," she said and backed away a little from the group. The first attack came from King Shark who used his strength to throw things at them, but they managed to dodge them only to find Black Spider's web that pinned them to the wall, but Killer Frost used her powers to free them by freezing the web.

"Really just a small question. How are you not trying to kill us?" asked Killer Frost to Deadshot as soon as they broke free from the web.

"Strong willed?" answered Deadshot as he dodged a boomerang.

"Relax Green Lantern," said Nightshade as she pushed him to the side as the boomerang was returning, but she was unable to dodge the boomerang and it cut through her suit making a cut on the side that started to close right after, "boomerangs go back, that's their deal, how is it that you don't pay attention?" she said moving away from him.

"_**Do I need to remind you that with the push of a button you all die?" said Amanda over the comm. **_

"No need to," said Deadshot as he took out his gun and started firing at them but the bullets just bounced off King Shark and Captain Boomerang and Black Spider just dodged them and they returned the blows with more boomerangs and spider webs. Shark King then grabbed Killer Frost by her face and slammed her against the wall, then, after Nightshade had jumped on his back, he punched her and sent her flying to the other side of the room. Just then a small beeping sound was heard coming from Shark King's back and then the bombs exploded knocking him out.

The others just turned to look at Nightshade holding a few other bombs in her hand, she noticed and flashed then a small smirk, "Just a trick I learned from an old teammate," she said putting them back on her belt. It was down to Captain Boomerang and Black Spider, so Harley Quinn decided to take care of black spider while killer Frost dealt with Captain Boomerang leaving Queen Bee to Deadshot and Nightshade.

"Is that the same teammate that gave you that necklace?" he asked looking down at her collar bone. Nightshade placed her hand over the necklace and let a small smile form on her face.

"Interesting turn of events. Who would have thought there was a man that could resist my charms?" she said leaning back on the desk, there was an explosion and the wall behind Queen Bee fell revealing a big helicopter on which she got on, "I'll see you around I guess," she said and they took off. As soon as she left the hypnosis broke and the group took the politicians back to Qurac without attracting any more attention.

"So the Justice League, huh?" asked Deadshot as they walked down the sewers.

"More like Justice League junior," she simply answered, "are you not going to try and scape Waller?" she asked back, the group went silent.

"And how do you suggest we do that?" asked Killer Frost pointing at the back of her neck, Nightshade pulled out a small black device from her belt.

"This is a signal disruptor, I could damage the signal on the bomb and you would be free to leave," she said, the other waited for her to continue, "but it's going to hurt,"

"What do you get out of this?" asked Black Spider crossing his arms over his chest.

"I get you people to owe me a favor. So, what do you say?" she asked them holding the disruptor up. Deadshot leaned down and showed Nightshade the back of her neck. She pressed the device against the X and received an electric shock that burned out the signal receiver in the device. Quickly the others did the same and she finished up with Harley.

"Woo! Do it again!" she said taking the disruptor off her hands and giving herself another shock.

"Seriously, never do it with crazy," Nightshade told Deadshot as they watched Harley.

"Aren't you going to do it?" asked Captain Boomerang.

"_**What is going on? What are you trying?" said Waller on the comm. They could hear the clicking of the button "You will pay for this one," she kept going, **_then they kept hearing a clicking sound as she pressed the button to activate the bombs, but nothing happened. The group dropped their comms on the floor and then smashed them.

"I don't have to. Waller could never put that on me," she answered lifting up her hair revealing a neck without an X.

"What made you so sure?" asked Black Spider eyeing Nightshade.

"The Justice League put me in Belle Reve under special conditions. If I were to die in Belle Reve Batman would be all over the place in no time," she answered, "if not, then Lex Luthor would like to know what happened to the girl he spent so much money on to turn into a weapon. I should get back to my cell now," she said looking at her wristwatch.

"Powerful people indeed," said Deadshot, "then I guess we all owe you one kid, I may be a criminal, but I never go back on my word," after that they parted ways and Nightshade returned to Belle Reve where she was greeted by no one other than Amanda Waller.

"I knew you'd be back. How dare you sabotage me like that, and where did you get a signal disrupter that strong? Justice League?" Waller accompanied Nightshade to the dressing room where she put her orange suit back on and tossed the old, ripped, gray and black suit at Waller.

"Lexcorp," said Nightshade watching the surprise on Amanda's face "I'm going to need a new one, actually two more suits would be alright," she said walking past her and pointing to the suit in her hands.

"You know that conceited attitude of yours will bring you more trouble. It's a dangerous game you're playing," she yelled after her but Nightshade kept walking. She was greeted at her cell by a new guard that would be taking care of her and she was walked into her cell one more time.


	16. Out of Time

Star City- August 1- 2:34 P.M-

The Mayor of Star City was standing in front of the new museum that was being opened in the city, he was energetically giving his speech about how important it was to create a cultural space for the future generations of Star City. He wanted to make it very clear that education was the key to a better city with better people and that the museum was merely the beginning of a new Star City. As he went on a slow clapping was heard among the audience and a tall man with small round glasses, a top hat and a fine wooden cane made his way towards the mayor. People started to move away from him, some would even run away.

"To think that a scumbag like you would get to be Major of Star City," he said in a hoarse voice, he reached out to grab him, "but then again, who is better than you to run a city full of criminals like me," he said and just as he was about to touch him an arrow came in through the gap between the major and him.

"Clock King, now that's a face I haven't seen in a while," said Green Arrow as he took out another arrow from his quiver. And shot again, but to his surprise the Clock King moved away and the arrow hit the ground.

"Green Arrow, I think that you should know by now that I'm aware of your timing. I know exactly how long it takes you to take out an arrow from your quiver, and how long it takes for it to reach its target," he said with a smirk planted on his face. Green Arrow took out another arrow and shot again and again, but Clock king just kept on dodging them.

"I'm going to wipe that smug look on your face just you wait," said Green Arrow jumping down from the building he was in. and that was when Clock King took out a trigger and held his thumb over the button.

"Not so fast, you wouldn't want anything to happen to our major, would you?" he asked looking over at the man still standing in the podium. The Major gulped and looked underneath the podium to see a small bomb taped to it. "Now, I advise you call in some back up, because you are going to be picking up his pieces all over the main street," he finished talking and was about to press the button when another arrow hit the trigger and pinned it to the pavement damaging it.

"Back up is here," said Artemis jumping down next to Green Arrow. Clock King looked at the girl, he had never seen her before. Her timing was, of course, different from Green Arrows and therefore he was unable to predict her moves. Just as his smirk dropped from his face Clock King started to run away only to be stopped by and arrow that pinned his clothes down and then another one that knocked off his cane. The next thing he knew, he was being placed inside a police car watching as Green Arrow congratulated Artemis and finally the smirk was back on his face.

"Who was that creep?" asked Artemis as she and Green Arrow reached mount Justice.

"Just another psycho, his name is Clock King. A pain in the ass," he said. Suddenly as the two walked in he caught a glimpse of Artemis looking over at the couch, "I'm sure she is alright. I heard she's able to receive visits, why don't you and Wally drop by," he said placing his hand on her shoulder and receiving a faint smile in return. Just then the rest of the team came into the cave, all tired and a little beat after a mission against Bizzaro in Metropolis. Ever since Nightshade left the team would spend more time in the cave than before. But not only that, the mood between the team and the Justice League had changed, especially between Batman and Robin.

-Happy Harbor-August 15- 6:32 P.M-

The Clock King attacked the town while the only ones available were Superboy, Rocket, Zatanna and Miss Martian. The rest of the team, Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Artemis had left to be with their respective mentors on different missions. The team had been called in after a threat was televised saying that there were four bombs that would go off simultaneously in three hours unless they were found. The team divided in two groups, Miss Martian and Zatanna searched around the city for the bombs while Superboy and Rocket looked all over for Clock King. Needless to say their job got pretty hard with the city being evacuated and citizens running around in panic.

"_**Any luck with the bombs?"**_ asked Rocket flying over the city while Superboy went on foot.

"_**Nothing so far on the west side,"**_ answered Zatanna, there was a long pause and then Superboy answered.

"_**I didn't find Clock King, but I found one of the bombs. I'll defuse it and then I'll keep looking for Clock King. And girls, we have less than thirty minutes,"**_ he said looking down at a gym bag with a bomb inside, and the number kept going down. Rocket swallowed and started going faster, until she spotted a man that was going down the street against the crowd, he looked around before getting inside one of the buildings and that was when Rocket saw his face.

"_**Guys, I found Clock King, get the other bombs and once you are done meet me on the east side of the city, near the park. Nightshade, I'll need your help,"**_ there was a long pause.

"_**Rocket, Nightshade is not with us anymore," **_said Miss Martian.

"_**Right, sorry,"**_ she said shaking her head and rapidly gliding down and landing next to the door. Rocket opened the door and stepped into the apartment building, she walked down the hall; all of the rooms had been emptied, all of them but one in the second floor that kept the door closed. She pressed herself against the door and when she didn't hear anything she opened it to find a normal apartment. Looking around, she saw a living room and a dining room and there were pictures of a woman everywhere, so she kept walking and opened the door to the bedroom and the only thing she could see where some computers in the back, a video camera and a wall full of pictures of the same woman, the mayor, some other people she didn't recognize and finally some members of the Justice League and everyone from the team.

After a moment of silence, there was a beeping sound coming from one of the computers, so Rocket ran up to it and found the timer counting down, on the side was the map with the marked locations to where the bombs were, _**"Guys, one of the bombs in the boulevard, the other one is in the harbor underneath the boardwalk and the final bomb is…"**_ she paused.

"_**Rocket? Are you okay?"**_ asked Miss Martian, _**"I have one, and I'm defusing it,"**_

"_**The other one is here,"**_ finished Rocket going off to search the apartment, until she found the bomb in one of the closets, there were only forty seconds left so she sat down and opened the back of the bomb to find some cables, "god, where is Robin when you need him," she said and closing her eyes she used her powers to cut one of the wires. The timer stopped the countdown and forwarded to the last three seconds so Rocket put a force field around the bomb and it went off inside the force field.

"_**Shit. Is everyone alright?"**_ she asked over the comm,

"_**I'm fine,"**_ answered Superboy.

"_**Me too,"**_ said Miss Martian.

"_**So am I, did you find Clock King?"**_ sked Zatanna.

"_**He somehow got away, but you need to see this. And someone should really call Batman," **_she said turning her attention back at the newspaper clippings and the pictures.

-Mount Justice- August 20- 4:45 P.M-

Robin and Batman stormed into the room, they both had serious looks on their faces and while that wasn't a rare thing in Batman, a serious Robin made everyone slightly uncomfortable. As soon as they walked in the team got up from the couch and followed Batman into the other room for briefing.

"As you already know, Clock King has been spotted in every major city in the past few days. Although we haven't been able to catch him, he was spotted today in Star City the mission was assigned to the team. Proceed with caution," he warned them.

"Call in if you find trouble," said Red Tornado as the teens walked out the door, before leaving Robin gave Batman one last glare and then he was gone.

"If you ask me, the Justice League could have overlooked Nightshade's situation if you had told us what you were planning. Still I don't know why you wanted her on the team, Wonder Woman is demanding an explanation yet you keep putting off," said Black Canary walking into the room.

"No one asked you," he said and solemnly walked away from them.

-Star City- 5:56 P.M-

The team arrived to Star City Square and were greeted by a panicked crowd running towards them, once it was cleared, they could see Clock King standing in the middle of it with a bomb tied around a man.

"So you are finally here. You know, when I heard that there was a new team of superheroes I couldn't help but test you guys. Now let me tell you a story, it all started a few years ago. I was just a simple man trying to take care of his terminally ill sister, but this doctor here had other plans," he said pointing at the man with the bomb tied around his chest, "one miss diagnose cost my sister her life and my freedom. But he isn't the only one to blame. The chief of police, and the judge that sentenced me, not to mention the major. So now, as part of my little test all of you can chose to save either these four people or disable the other five bombs I hid in the city, but by my calculations on your abilities, it will take a while. The clock is ticking," he said with a smile on his face as a smoke cloud wrapped itself around him and helped him disappear.

"Is it just me or did the Justice League really underestimate this guy?" asked Kid Flash looking over at the doctor while Zatanna was working on a way to disable the bomb.

"Rocket, is there anything you remember that could help us with the locations?" asked Aqualad looking over his shoulder.

"Well there where pictures of a woman, I'm going to assume it was his sister, some paper clippings about the case and other more recent ones involving us. But I'm sorry, that's all I remember," she said looking down at the ground.

"I got the location of the second bomb, it's over the coast, and I'm getting the signal from the others. I'll try to jam it to give us more time, but that means I will have to stay put," said Robin using the computer on his wrist to track down the bombs and little red dots started appearing on his screen.

"We'll have to fan out if we want to make it on time. Kid Flash, you take the furthest point form here, Miss Martian go to the west side, and Superboy take the one on the north side. Rocket and Artemis there are two near the station, take those. I'll go for the one on the coast, Zatanna you keep working on that, Robin stay there and Nightshade there's two on the south, do you think you can….." Aqualad went silent after he saw the whole team staring at him, except for Robin that kept his head down looking at the screen. "Right, let's go, we still have two more bombs to cover," he finished and each one took off.

After a while Zatanna finally managed to disable the bomb tied around the doctor's chest and so she walked up to Robin and laid a hand on his shoulder. "You know you can talk to me anytime right?" she told him, but he shoved her hand away.

"Now is not the time Z. There are two bombs in the south part of Gotham, I don't know if they are tied to someone or not, but make it fast. I'm still trying to find Clock King," he said. Zatanna released a big sigh and started walking away.

"You are not the only that deserves to be mad Robin, we all feel betrayed and we all miss her," she said levitating away from him with a spell. Robin glared at the computer as he looked at the countdown while on the side he was searching for any trace of Clock King.

On the other side of the city, Kid Flash had found the bomb and was trying to disable it, it had some cables tangled all over, and all of them had different colors. He gulped and started moving the bomb all over trying to see if some of the cables connected directly to the trigger of the bomb, after a while he managed to find the blue cable that lead directly to the trigger so he took a deep breath and cut it. He waited a while and when it didn't go off he let out a huge sigh of relieve.

"_**Hey Rob, give me the location of the other bomb, I'm done here,"**_ he started but then he heard a loud beeping sound coming from the bomb, so he looked at it and found a second timer was hidden under the cables and this timer was rapidly approaching cero. Kid Flash grabbed the bomb and started running away towards the coast where Aqualad was taking care of his bomb that was tied around the Mayor. Kid Flash ran past him and into the water. His speed made it possible for him to run over the water so that when the timer got to cero he left the bomb in the middle of the ocean and it exploded far away from the people.

"Man, I so deserve a snack," he said walking up to a glaring Aqualad, "oh so this one is tied to the mayor," he said.

"Yes, and I can't figure out how to defuse the bomb, what happened to you?" he asked as he reached out to separate the bomb from the mayor but he noticed a heat sensor.

"Well my bomb had a second bomb so by disconnecting one I activated the other one," he explained before leaning down to look at what Aqualad was doing and then he saw the heat sensor on the bomb, "Oh man this is bad. How do you wanna do this?" he asked.

"I was planning on overcharging the bomb and destroying it from the inside, but if I do that now the mayor would be electrocuted," he said.

"I'll be what!" yelled the man tied to the bomb, Kid Flash and Aqualad mainly ignored him and continued the conversation.

"You know who could help us with the heat problem?" said Kid Flash and after receiving a confusing look from Aqualad he continued, "Nightshade, she could have use her powers to maintain the temperature in the bomb while you disable it," he finished.

"Well, she is not here, so I'll have to figure something else out," he said, both boys looked at the bomb and that's when they found a small hole in in the bomb, Aqualad directed his electricity inside it and slowly started charging the bomb until the timer started failing and it burned down from the inside. They separated the mayor from the bomb and moved on to the last bomb in the south.

As Robin sat there he received calls from the team members, Superboy, Zatanna, Rocket, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Miss Martian all had reported in to say their bombs had been defused, all of them but Artemis who was struggling to defuse the bomb since it was on a moving train and it was tied to the speed of the train so the passengers couldn't get off since the driver couldn't slow down or stop the train. She had managed to get on by using her arrows, but once inside it was impossible to leave. She went to the bomb and looked at it, it was a standard bomb with the different colored cables and the timer that told her she had less than five minutes left. She took a glimpse at the scared crowd in the back of the train and then at the driver sweating and anxious, and then she grabbed an arrow from her quiver.

"Oh screw this," she said and from a relatively safe distance she shot the arrow that exploded when in contact with the bomb resulting in a destroyed shell. The train finally came to a stop in the next station and it was evacuated successfully. They thanked Artemis and as she walked out of the train Robin's voice came in through the comm.

"Artemis, he's close to you I'm on my way there, so meet you at the apartment building near the station," he said and Artemis took off. By the time she got there, Kid Flash, Aqualad and Rocket where already there, they stood outside for a while until the others arrived and then waited for Robin but it wasn't until they heard a loud thud coming from inside that they realized he was already there. Rushing up the stairs they saw Clock King storming out of the room and going to the roof and just behind him was Robin. They all followed and once on the roof they saw the rest of the paper clippings, all about them including some that mentioned Nightshade.

"You know, when they said you would be easy they were underestimating you. Although I think you are missing someone in the team," said Clock King looking at them and raising his hands in the air, giving up, "still you managed to take care of the bombs, even the one that was meant for her," Kid Flash and Aqualad looked at each other. "But seriously, where is she? Did she ditch you for something better? What a bitch," he said and Robin rushed forward, grabbed him by the collar and pushed him down.

"Say that one more time," he said preparing himself to punch him in the face but Miss Martian pushed him away from Clock King.

"Robin, that is not okay," she said taking him away from Robin, "this is how you should do it!" she said and punched him in the stomach leaving him breathless and then she dropped a flowerpot on his head. Everyone looked at Miss Martian with wide eyes, she was supposed to be the calm one in the team, although it was understandable since they all found themselves ready to do the same. They started to make their way out of the roof, but stopped at the wall with the clippings of Nightshade. Kid Flash grabbed them after a while of staring at them and said:

"Souvenir," and walked out with the others. Aqualad looked back at Clock King one last time and they disappeared just in time to let the police arrest him.

-Mount Justice- 11:30 P.M-

The team walked inside to find Batman waiting for them, he motioned them to the other room and so the followed. "I know you might have noticed, but Clock King is not the type to do this kind of thing. Someone else must have helped him," he said.

"Actually, the bombs were supposed to be for the nine of us, he mentioned something about each bomb being especially for Nightshade, so…" Zatanna was interrupted by Batman.

"Why would he mention Nightshade? She wasn't there and this is the first time Clock King has heard of the team," he said with a serious look on his face. The team just stared blankly at him, they didn't know what was going on either. Something was clear though, someone was still after Nightshade and now the team had gotten involved.


	17. Anarky

Gotham City- September 5- 6:43 P.M-

Artemis opened the door of her apartment to find her mother in the living room watching the news. "Hi mom, have you eaten yet?" she sked walking up to the kitchen and opening the fridge.

"Of course I have, what time do you think it is?" she asked raising an eyebrow while Artemis moved around some things in the fridge, "anyway, how was school?" she asked turning her head towards the television.

"It was alright, you know full of obnoxious kids," she said with her head still buried in the fridge, the television in the background had a reported talking about the latest events.

"Last month's events have caused an uproar in the people of the cities that were targeted by the villain that calls himself the Clock King. Citizens are left outraged by the lack of interest and action from the government. On the plus side, the Justice League took action and managed to save Star City before it was blown up by this maniac, they truly are our heroes". Suddenly there was a loud noise out on the street that made Artemis rush towards the window only to see that someone had thrown a Molotov at a police car causing it to explode. She turned her head to the other side and saw a huge crowd of hooded people running through the streets.

"What happened?" asked her mother moving her wheelchair towards the window, "Oh, don't you have anywhere you would like to be?" she asked looking at her daughter, she nodded and rushed out of the apartment. Her mother turned her head to the T.V to hear the reporter.

"This is just in, a violent riot group is roaming the streets of Gotham; people are advised to stay in their homes until the authorities handle the rioters," she said and then another explosion was heard in the background.

On the other side of Gotham, Batman and Robin landed on top of the police department building after seeing the sign in the sky. They walked up to the police commissioner, hearing the screaming and ongoing explosions on the street.

"Batman, Robin," he greeted them, "I assume you know what is going on down there," he said.

"We have an idea," answered Robin.

"Right, what I wanted you to know was that I received a strange call this afternoon, it was a guy talking about redemption, and corporate America. Actually he wanted me to quit the police force, at first I thought he was just another crazy asshole calling, but then this happens," he complained, Batman just looked at him while Gordon kept talking and finally another cop came in through the door yelling that the Courthouse was under attack. Gordon turned around to tell them one more thing but Batman and Robin were no longer there, "Of course," he said to himself and rushed out of the roof.

Batman and Robin watched Gordon storm off from the nearest building. "Robin, call in the team, tell them to meet you at the Courthouse, I'll try to stop the rioters on the street," he said walking away.

"I heard that you are still avoiding Wonder Woman," said Robin, Batman turned around, "she's getting mad at you, if I were you I would talk, I wouldn't want an amazon getting angry at me," he said and jumped down from the building_**. "Robin to the team, meet me in Gotham, there's trouble in the Courthouse and Batman wants us there,"**_ he said using his grappling hook to jump from roof to roof. As he went he spotted a group of hooded people running in his direction and the next thing that happened was that his rope was cut and he fell on top of one of the roofs. He got up quickly and looked around to see masked men forming a circle around him, all of them holding different weapons like knives, broken bottles and bats.

"Look at this, we caught ourselves a little bird," said one of them walking up to Robin, when he saw this Robin kicked him in the chin forcing him to back away. As soon as he did that the other masked men charged at him, he took them on trying to focus on knocking one down before going off to the other which proved quite difficult since they took swings at him with their knives and broken bottles, some of them managed to cut him a little. He turned around and punched one of them forcing him to the ground, then another one who was coming at him from behind with a bat, he kicked and punched all of them out of his way and then used another hook to get over to the courthouse.

Down at the courthouse Kid Flash, Aqualad and Superboy were already taking care of some of the hooded criminals when Robin landed next to them. They turned their heads to look at him, he was injured all over and his suit was ripped but still he was fighting the other criminals so they kept going. It wasn't long until an arrow landed at their feet and exploded in a smoke curtain bringing down most of the criminals. Following the arrow, came a cold spell that froze some of them and then some energy beams pushed the others back with the help of a flying light post.

"Someone knows how to make an entrance," said Kid Flash looking over at the girls. They divided and took different sides of the building, Robin, Miss Martian, Kid Flash and Rocket took the front side, while Artemis, Superboy, Aqualad and Zatanna took the back. The first team barged into the building, it was filled with hooded people and anarchy symbols everywhere, when they saw them, the criminals ran up to them and the fight broke out.

Kid Flash ran around taking down as many thugs as he could while Miss Martian used her powers along with Rocket to help clear the way for him. As they did that Robin fought a small group that was waiting for them further into the building, he had made his way into the building as the others distracted the thugs and he was now punching and kicking. Using his birdarangs he dropped a few smoke bombs on them allowing him to move without being seen and in a matter of minute he took them down. When he raised his head to look around and saw that the others had just finished with the rest and all that was left were the unconscious bodies of the thugs. Suddenly a voice came in that resounded through the whole building, a projection appeared on one of the walls, it was a man in red, and he had his hood up so they couldn't see his face.

"It was about time for you to get here," he said, "now, you may not know me, but I do know you so for the sake of introductions; I'm Anarky. I have seen and heard so much about you, the way you handled Clock King was admirable. Yet you let the Justice League take the credit, join me and you can have what's yours, power, pride, recognition," he said. No one from the team moved, even though they were divided, they were seeing the same thing in the back. After a while more thugs came in and Kid Flash found the right name for them, Anarchists.

"If you think we will join you, then you are out of your mind," said Miss Martian lowering herself to the ground.

"We might not be in the best terms with the Justice League right now, but none of us would go behind their backs," said Aqualad grabbing one of his swords.

A smile formed in Anarky's lips, "Commitment, loyalty, just as they said. Now what you said is not really true, there was one that would have actually considered my offer, too bad Nightshade's not here," he said and then shrugged his shoulders, "just saying her name gives me the chills, and here I was looking forward to meeting her," he said, they just looked at each other and then the anarchists attacked them. As they did the team made its way towards the center of the building where they met with the other group, making his way through Robin finally got to the stairs, he looked back to see them fighting and only moved up the stairs when Aqualad motioned him to go. As he went up he met more anarchists that he had to kick down the stairs until he reached the top and then ran around the second floor looking for Anarky. Finally he found him in one of the rooms.

"I had a feeling you would be the one to find me," said Anarky taking out a escrima stick, Robin moved out of the way as Anarky charged towards him and then kicked him in the chest pushing him against the wall. Anarky got charged at him again and this time Robin grabbed the stick and used it to pin Anarky to the wall.

"Who told you about us?" he asked adding pressure to the stick.

"Just someone that wants to end with the Justice League and its allies, that means you and of course Nightshade," he said as his hood slipped. "Oh, look at that, there come the goose bumps," Robin saw the face of a teenager, a bit older than him, but still he was just a kid.

"Don't you ever mention her again," he said and used the stick to electrocute him into unconsciousness. He went back to where the rest of the team was, they were already done and about to go up to where he was when they saw him walking their way. They walked up to him, but all he did was shove them away.

"Robin," said Aqualad as he walked by, no one tried to move except for Kid Flash that ran off after him.

"Hey Rob, I don't know what he said to you, but this is not the way to deal with it. It's been three months already, don't you think it's enough that she basically ruined your life in such a short time?" he said following him. Soon Robin's phone rang and he took it out to see a remainder popping up on the screen, it read 'visit Jade'.

"KF, I need you to come with me for a second," he said putting his phone away.

"Where to?" asked Kid Flash.

"I just need to see something," he said and ran off with Kid Flash right behind him.

-Gotham City- 8:01 P.M-

Robin and Kid Flash walked up to Nightshade's house, Robin had dragged him there so he could talk with her family and when he knocked on the door her brother Mark opened and leaned against the door frame. Robin examined Mark, his fancy shirt was tugged out of his pants and he looked like he had been sleeping, they apologized and were about to leave when Mark stopped them and invited them inside. They walked inside and sat in the living room which was covered with photos of a younger Nightshade and her family, Kid Flash then spotted one of Nightshade with another girl wearing Robin's school's uniform so he nudged him on the side.

"Jade went to my school?" Robin asked Mark, he nodded as he walked in with drinks.

"She actually had a scholarship, but she threw it away saying that the school was full of insufferable, good for nothing kids. No offense," he said looking at Robin who shook his head, "Were you looking for her?" he asked, of course she would say that, thought Robin; Mark grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down an address.

"If you were, Jade lives there, my parents bought it so she could live near the school, although she hasn't dropped by the house lately, she might be there. If not, Lance lives next door, you know though guy with a bit of an attitude, she might be there too," he said and accompanied Robin and Kid Flash back to the front door.

"You know, extracurricular activities and bad temper aside, she is a good girl, so take care of her for me," he said winking at them. They thanked Mark and drove away on their bikes to the apartment building that belonged to the address; went up the stairs and knocked twice on Nightshade's door, Robin looked back at the door across the hall and sighed. When no one opened it they started looking for a key anywhere and Kid Flash found it underneath the carpet.

"Wow, it's bigger on the inside," he said as they walked into the messy apartment, a lonely couch sat against the wall facing a T.V, to the left was a small kitchen and a dining room. On both sides were wide halls that led to the rooms and a study room. The boys went back to the kitchen after hearing the door opening.

"Oh," said Skye as she placed some grocery bags on the counter, "What are you guys doing here? And how did you get in here?" she asked a little shocked then worried. She looked out the door and into the hall, "Lance, Alex, I forgot something back in the car, could you guys go get it?" she yelled.

"Jade's brother told us about this place, we just wanted to check it out," said Kid Flash, "We found the key under the carpet," he said. Robin got distracted while the two of them talked, he looked around the apartment to see more pictures of her and the sibling, another one with her and a blonde girl he didn't recognize, and there were a lot of pictures of her with her friends and family.

"Look I think it's nice of you, but you should leave before my brother sees you," she said and turned around to see her brother and Alex standing on the doorway, "never mind that, good luck," she said taking the groceries and tidying up the place.

"Oh, isn't he the cute guy that went to look for Jade at school?" asked Alex, Robin recognized her as the blonde in the picture.

"What are you doing here?" asked Lance when he saw Robin. He ignored him and walked up to Alex.

"I'm Richard Grayson, I assume you and Jade live here together?" he asked with a smile. The girl nodded and extended out her hand to shake his and smiled when she heard his name.

"I'm Alex Greenwood," she said and then extended her hand out to Kid Flash and he took it.

"Wally West, nice to meet you," he said and smiled.

"Well, sorry for the mess, I don't like to clean things up and now that Jade is staying at her parent's house I don't feel like cleaning," she said walking inside and throwing her things on the couch. The four teens looked at each other and then back at the blonde, who just walked away towards her room.

"Yeah, this is all really nice, but I think you should go, now" said Lance lighting up his fist with the red energy now that the four of them where alone. Alex popped her head back in and his energy went out.

"What are you talking about, they just got here, do you want anything to drink?" she asked walking up to the kitchen where Skye was cleaning things only to have to wash them again after Alex made a new mess pouring the drinks. "But really, what is Jade's boyfriend doing here, didn't she tell you she was going to her parent's house?" she asked while Lance clicked his tongue.

"Actually she told me to get her something from her room, so if you'll excuse us, we have to pick it up," he said looking at Kid Flash, Lance got off the couch and walked with them to the room. It was big room with its own T.V, a big bed, posters plastered all over the walls and more photographs, including some with Robin and the team in their casual clothes. The most recent one was of their last date on her birthday, Robin smiled to himself as soon as he saw it. "What are you doing here?" he asked Lance as he walked into the room.

"As if I'm going to let you two snoop around in her room," he said leaning against the door frame.

"Relax Lance, it's not like we are going to take anything," said Kid Flash seeing how he had started using his powers, "so back off," he finished and turned to look around the room.

"You haven't even visited her. I mean I get that the rest of your stupid team doesn't want to see her, but she is still your girlfriend, right?" he asked looking over at Robin knowing that he had pissed him off. Instead of answering him Robin opened her closet to find it covered in messy clothes, except for a small space that was clean. He stepped on it and found a button on the side wall and the back of the closet opened. The three boy stood astonished when they saw a room filled with weapons, knives, guns, swords, bombs, anything inside was deadly.

"Wow, dude that girl is definitely something else," said Kid Flash walking inside, he looked to the side and found a line of her suits hanging, then guns and bullets lined up for easy access. On the other side Robin found a desk with files stacked up on top, he took them and examined them one by one. They had names written on top of them, names that belonged to the members of the team, the Justice League and a countless number of villains including Anarky and Clock King. Next to them was a long list with names, some of them where crossed off including the names of the team. Kid Flash looked over his shoulder and opened one of the files with the name crossed off and one without it. "Rob, the crossed names means that she has full info on them, for the ones that are not crossed; she barely has anything. Why you are not surprised? Is this what you were looking for?" he asked looking over at his friend that was picking up the files and hiding the list in his jacket.

"Where are you taking those?" asked Lance closing the room behind them and following the two to the front door, he grabbed Robin by the collar and pushed him against the wall.

"I'm trying to figure out why she had this and what was she going to do with them, either way I can't let you keep them," he said and pushed Lance away from him and then without saying goodbye they walked out of the house. Kid Flash and Robin got to the Wayne Manor with all the files, so they ran up to his room and placed the files on his desk and went through them all night.

"Why would you need this?" Robin asked himself as he looked at them, all of the crossed name files had the information complete, name, secret identity, occupation, powers, weaknesses, everything. He didn't believe she was just gathering information for herself so she had to been giving them to someone, the question was who.

There was tapping on his window so both boys looked up to see Skye floating out the window. The girl waved and asked to come inside so Robin opened the window and then floated right in. "Sorry for that, I heard that you took the files on top of Jade's desk?" she asked, they nodded. "Well they aren't her files, she just keeps them in there for someone," she said.

"Who?" asked Robin, looking at Skye, she looked away from him and didn't answer, "Skye, who is it?" he asked once more.

"You know that we used to work for The Light, and that we later escaped. Jade was the one that made it possible for that to happen, she made a deal with Calculator to get information on both villains and heroes so when she started, she got the information on Aqualad, Miss Martian and then she found out your information, but as you can see your names are not crossed over. It means that she wasn't going to tell him, as for the Justice League she made sure only the heroes with no immediate family on earth would be crossed over on the list," she explained, Robin looked at the list, only a few heroes where crossed over, while most of the villains where done. "If you don't believe me, she even knows who Batman is, and Superman and Wonder Woman, even The Flash," she said looking at Kid Flash.

"There's barely anything on their files," said Kid Flash looking at them. Somehow Robin let out a sigh of relieve, "Calculator is the one that erased your information from police records and everywhere else right?" he asked, Skye nodded. Robin sat down on his chair and pushed the files over at Skye.

"I'm going to trust you with these, so take it back and tell your brother I'm sorry," he said and the girl lit up and smiled.

"I will, thank you so much," she said taking them and flying away. Kid Flash looked at Robin, he laid his head on his desk and was running his hand through his hair.

"Rob, about what I said back at the courthouse, it's not true. I think Jade was actually a good thing for you, but you can't keep kicking yourself for what happened," he told him.

"I know, it's just that I don't think it is right, she should be here with us not in prison cell in Belle Reve. As far as I'm concerned she made up for what she did in the past and it wasn't even her, it was Nightcrawler. I'll just have to deal with the fact that I probably won't see her again," he said and then looked at Kid Flash, "are you staying over?" he asked.

"Dude are you kidding me? Of course I am, now I call player one," he yelled and quickly grabbed the controller, Robin smiled, sat down next to him with the other controller and they played for the rest of the night.


	18. Welcome to the End

-Wayne Manor- October 24- 3:00 A.M-

Richard Grayson walked along the dark hall of the Wayne Manor, he brushed his hand against the wall looking for the light switch but there was nothing. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone using the light to make his way through, halfway there he noticed the silhouette of a girl that stood there turning away from him. Richard moved closer without making a sound until the light from his phone hit the mysterious silhouette.

"Jade?" he said as his phone shined on Jade Collin's face, "Aren't you supposed to be in Belle Reve?" the girl stayed silent, she just looked at him and then walked away.

"If Batman finds out you're here he will—" he started but then he caught a glimpse of another shadow against the wall. It looked like Jade saw it too since she stopped walking and directed her glance towards the shadowed person that stepped out into the light of Richard's phone. It was someone he had never seen before, a relatively old man with old dark clothes. He couldn't see his face because he was covering it with a hood, but Jade knew him and he saw this because she had taken a step back. Richard reached out to her but when he tried to touch her, she would slip away. On the other side, the man in the hood grabbed Jade and while she struggled he pulled out a knife.

"Hey! What are you doing?" yelled Richard, but when he tried to take the knife away he ended up scratching the air, and just when he tried again the man stabbed Jade and she fell to the ground. Angered, Richard grabbed the knife and in turn stabbed the man in the hood and he fell to the floor; Richard leaned down next to him and took the hood off his head only to see Jade's face. He slowly turned to see that the other body lying on the floor wasn't there anymore and had been replaced by the once again hooded man that gave him a smirk.

Richard woke up startled and sat up on his bed covered in sweat; he pushed away his blankets and walked out of his room, across the hall until he reached the stairs and walked to the kitchen. He poured some water in a glass and leaned against the sink, he swallowed down half of the water and splashed the other half on his face.

"The same nightmare?" asked Bruce resting on the doorway, Richard nodded.

"What about you, pulling an all-nighter?" he asked, Bruce shook his head.

"You've been having the same dream ever since that encounter with Anarky, your performance has lowered, you are more irritable and you can barely keep up with school. If this has something to do with Nightshade, I assure you she is alright," he said, Richard placed the glass on the sink, it has everything to do with her, he thought. "If you feel like talking, don't hesitate to call me," he said and left the kitchen.

Richard walked up to the window and noticed a blurry thing moving around on the backyard, the thing started running towards the window and by the time he was able to see it clearly, it had already crashed against it, shattering it and forcing Richard to jump back. The thing raised its head to reveal a rotting appearance, its eyes were completely black and swollen; its skin was dry and had a slight green-grayish shade. Bruce and Alfred rushed into the kitchen and stared at the thing that was now scratching the air.

"Master Richard, are you alright?" asked Alfred as Bruce sedated the creature, Richard nodded and stared at the creature that was once human. He helped Bruce carry him down to the lab where he sat all night experimenting on it while Richard watched and occasionally lent a hand. This was better than going to bed and not being able to sleep, at least he was distracted there.

-Mount Justice- October 25- 5:20 P.M-

"This is how Gotham City, Metropolis, Star City, Bludhaven and many other major cities look like right now," Said Superman as he floated next to Batman, on the screen the cities were displayed, completely trashed, buildings and houses on fire and those creatures roaming around the streets. The whole team was gathered around the screen, some looked disgusted, others scared and others just surprised.

"We looked into this matter, but we haven't been able to determine the cause of the spread," said Batman, "Right now we are short on resources, as you know, the only members of the Justice League left are Superman, Black Canary and me. The others have fallen to whatever this is and—" he was cut off by a loud thud that made Aqualad as he fell to the floor grabbing his chest. His skin started turning a green shade and his breath was cut short. Soon everyone else but Batman followed him and he found himself surrounded by those creatures.

They started attacking Batman, using their powers to corner him. Superman used his heat vision to try and hurt him but Batman moved away, Robin then launched himself at him and Batman had to throw him against the wall just as the fight broke out. After a while Batman managed to get out of the cave, but so did the rest of them. _**"Alfred I'm going to need some of my equipment. How is the cure going?"**_ he asked over the comm but all he could hear was static. Now the whole Justice League was gone, the team was gone and he found himself alone on his plane. Looking down to the city that was now metropolis he caught a glimpse of Belle Reve and sighing he redirected his plane towards the prison.

Batman made his way through the prison. Belle Reve was a mess; most of the cells had been opened as the guards had fled due to the circumstances in Metropolis. The ones that hadn't been opened contained famishing prisoners. Finally he reached the last cell of the hall and he cautiously looked inside, the cell was closed and Nightshade laid on her bed playing with a small ball while listening to music.

"I see you're still alive," he said. Nightshade looked at him and moved closer to the door so he could see her more clearly. The girl still wore the orange suit, but she looked healthy an uninjured.

"Disappointed?" she asked and slid the door open, so her cell door had been unlocked the whole time, he assumed "I thought you would never stop by, what happened?" she asked stepping out of her cell and leaning against the wall.

"People all around the country are turning into some sort of lifeless monsters. Whoever is doing this has taken control of the Justice League, they are all going against anyone who is not under his or her control," he said, Nightshade looked at him before walking away, he followed her through the hall and watched as the remaining prisoners shied away from her and then at the end of the hall she slammed a button that opened all of the cells then continued to make her way towards the cafeteria. Batman followed her past the tables and into a small room where he saw her uniform hanging on the back with the rest of her things; she started undressing so he turned around until she was done. Taking a better look at Nightshade she had changed her uniform, this one was black with fine red lines that ran along the sides. Her hair had gotten longer and it now reached her waist and the black color had started to fade showing her natural dark brown hair.

"Man those ten years really went by. The team, did he get them too?" she asked putting on her now red belt with the two guns on her hips.

"He?" asked Batman, Nightshade looked up at him just as she finished putting on the pair of gloves and tightening them around the wrist.

"I have a theory, but I need to see them before knowing for sure," she said "the team, where are they?" she asked once again.

"You and I are the last known members of the Justice League or its associates. Let's go to the cave, I need to retrieve some things and work on a cure for this," he said walking in front of Nightshade towards the plane.

"If it is who I think it is, you will never find a cure," she mumbled before going off behind him. Batman landed his plane on the batcave and both of them walked off the plane and into the humid cave. Nightshade looked around, it was her first time in the batcave and all she could see where the mementos from Batman's fights and a bunch of computers in the back of the room. She followed him towards the computers when a loud crackling noise was heard coming from behind them. Suddenly Alfred jumped at them; Nightshade moved out of his way while Batman grabbed him and injected some sort of tranquilizer on his neck. Alfred's skin was the same green-grayish shade as the other creatures.

Nightshade looked at Alfred as Batman tied him to a table and drew out some blood, "Well?" asked Batman as he examined the sample, "how's your theory?" he asked her.

"I knew it! You can stop doing that; this is not something that can be fixed with medicine. It's magic, ancient magic. They are not infected with something, they are Felix Faust's soulless puppets," she said crossing her arms over her chest.

"soul-siphoning," said Batman, "he is preparing for a ritual. We need to stop him before he can complete it," he said typing in his computer looking for Faust.

"We?" asked Nightshade leaning against the table where Alfred still laid, "I thought The Dark Knight didn't like the way I worked," she continued.

"You know more about Faust than I do, after all you already made a deal with him," said Batman as his searched was reduced to Gotham. As soon as he said that Nightshade's hand slipped from the table. "What? You thought I didn't know what you used the money from that bank robbery for? It was odd to find your brother in my company, especially after there was a report stating that the Collins family was dead. It was gone the next morning though," he said as his search landed in an even smaller sector.

"You are very annoying Batman. Fine, we are going. Gotham University," she said as the computer round up in the same place. Batman glared at her while the teenager gave him a smirk, "I'm going to need a few things first," she said. Batman pressed a button on his suit and the car emerged. Nightshade stared in awe at the legendary Batmovil, this time Batman was the one smirking. He got in and watched as Nightshade slowly approached the car, she ran her fingers through the car's surface and finally jumped on the passenger's seat.

"So, where are we going?" he asked driving out of the cave.

"My house," she answered.

-Gotham City- 7:50 P.M-

The Batmovile pulled up on the Collins' driveway and both Batman and Nightshade stepped out of the car. Carefully she looked inside the house, the lights where off and there was no obvious hint that could tell her whether her family was inside or not. She quickly opened the door and the two walked inside; with the lights turned off they made their way to the second floor and opened one of the multiple rooms of the manor. It was the only lock that was different from the rest and once it was opened Batman saw what Nightshade called her souvenir room. They walked into the room, he looked around to find something from every job she had done for The Light and from her missions with the team; among them was Ghost Girl's doll that sat right in the corner of one of the shelves.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Nightshade roaming around in the back of the room, finally a door opened to reveal a collection of swords, from Katanas to swords from the middle ages. One of them stood in the middle of the room, it was a double edged sword. Nightshade walked up to it and took it along with its casing. "That's one of Ra's al Ghul's swords. Why do you have it?" he asked the girl as she locked the door once again and they walked away from the room.

"It was a gift, or more like payment for a job. You should see the ones I have at my apartment," she said walking out of the house. They pulled away from the driveway and into the street and in no time they were in downtown Gotham where the creatures roamed around, Batman tried to carefully maneuver around them, but they would just come closer to the car. "Cool, this looks like one of those Zombie movies," she said leaning over her seat only to receive a glare form Batman, "I mean, oh this is bad," she said after clearing her throat. "Step on it," said Nightshade moving away from the window.

"You want me to run them over?" he asked.

"Yes," she simply answered. Batman glared at her, "No, really! Those things out there are barely people. Some of them were never people to begin with. They can take it, trust me," she finished looking around as the crowd grew larger.

"I don't trust you," he said and then thought about the creature that crashed into the window of the manor. He remember that the cuts healed fast and there hadn't been a single drop of blood, "but right now I don't have a choice," he finished and stepped on the accelerator running over the creatures that jut bounced off his windshield. Looking on the rearview mirror he saw that they were getting up again and let out a big sigh.

"Told you," said Nightshade receiving a death glare. They drove in silence until they reached the university grounds where Batman parked at the end of the block and they made their way into the sewers seeing that around the campus the soulless puppets were patrolling. Underneath were more puppets that walked along staring blankly, among them where some of the Justice League members like Black Canary, Green Arrow and Aquaman.

"And I was wondering where they were," said Nightshade peeking around the corner, she turned around but Batman was gone, the next thing she heard was a loud thud. Popping her head around the corner she saw Batman beating down the creatures and the Justice League members. "So much for sneaking around," she said and joined him in the fight.

The first one to launch herself at Nightshade was Black Canary, she kicked her and threw punches in her direction. All Nightshade did was dodge her attacks and throw an occasional punch. "If you keep doing that we will never get out of here," said Batman knocking Aquaman out and taking on Green Arrow. A smirk formed in Nightshade's face and she threw a high kick at Black Canary hitting her in the face. The impulse forced Black Canary to back away into a wall. She got up quickly and just as fast she punched Nightshade and then released a loud squeal.

"Oh my god, could you have a more annoying power?" she thought out loud making her way towards Black Canary and kicking her on the side finally shutting her up. Batman nodded just as he was putting the unconscious body of Green Arrow down. They kept walking until they reached the far end of the sewers, the putrid smell filled the place and it kept growing stronger as they approached the wall. Batman climbed the ladder and pushed away the lid, he walked into the new room to find a place with molting walls and floor. Nightshade pulled herself up to see a hoard of soulless puppets coming their way; Batman grabbed her and using his hook he pulled both of them up and into a shadowed corner. The creatures passed them by, but when Nightshade popped her head around the corner she saw more members of the Justice League standing in the now seemingly empty hallway.

Flash, Green Lantern and Red Tornado stood in the middle patrolling the hallway, they started walking around so Nightshade hid back in the shadows when Green Lantern floated past them. She felt Batman pulling her back when Green Lantern stopped right in front of them, in an attempt to go unnoticed she held her breath and leaned further back against Batman. Once he was gone, the caped crusader let go of her and she let out a large sigh. It was then that Red Tornado noticed them and aimed to the corner where they were hiding forcing them to step out of the shadows.

When they did, they found themselves surrounded by the Justice League members and as if that wasn't enough a few shapeless figures joined them. They were completely black, only their eyes glowed a bright red, and that was when Nightshade pulled out her sword. Green Lantern was the first to attack, he used his ring to form a huge tractor and almost hit them with it. Batman decided to go for him first leaving Nightshade to take care of Red Tornado, Flash and the shadows. She made her way towards Red Tornado and using the sword she tried to cut his robotic body, but he moved away just in time; she then turned around to take on the shadows that lurked around them.

At first she started using her sword to slash them, and the moment she did the creatures would disappear, but as more of them kept coming and with The Flash's interventions she was having a hard time keeping up with them. After a while, the very tired Nightshade started using her pyrokinesis to finish the shadows, which she managed to do just before Green Lantern landed at her feet.

"Are you done playing around?" she asked Batman as he walked up to her, now it was two against the other two, "Don't you have a plan for this type of situations?" she asked looking up at him; Batman nodded and took out a small black device that he pointed at Flash, but he kept moving away. meanwhile Nightshade tried to damage Red Tornado, she shot him, threw knives at him but nothing worked until she took out her sword once again and this time she lit it on fire. Now with the warm steel, her sword was able to pierce the hard metal and leave Red Tornado like a useless pile of scrap. She turned around just in time to see Batman trapping Flash keeping him from running anymore and finally knocking him out.

"I'm afraid to ask if you have one of those for me," she said picking up her sword and walking away from him.

"I have a contingency plan for everyone, that includes you," he said.

"And do you have one for yourself?" she asked looking back at him, but Batman just walked past her into the next room. As soon as they entered an arrow hit Nightshade in the back of her shoulder, she groaned in pain and fell to the ground; Batman looked back at her just in time to see Nightshade pulling out the arrow and the wound closing. He helped her up and turned in the direction the arrow had come from to see Artemis standing there, her bow ready to shoot another arrow.

"So they did get out of the cave," said Batman staring at Artemis, she looked just like the other creatures, Nightshade dropped the bloody arrow to the floor and cracked her knuckles.

"I wonder if the rest of the team will get here soon," she said taking out a knife from her belt. Artemis shot the arrow, but Batman and Nightshade moved out of the way, she kept shooting arrows and they kept avoiding them until Batman managed to sneak behind her and kicked her in the back. She got up quickly only to find Nightshade running towards her and then when she was about to kick Artemis blocked her, but with a roundhouse kick she brought her to the ground. Artemis had ran out of Arrows, so when she reached down to grab another one she found her quiver empty and so she raised her fists.

"You're serious?" asked Nightshade raising an eyebrow, Artemis threw a punch and Nightshade blocked; the punch was followed by a kick that Nightshade ducked. She grabbed Artemis' fist and twisted it behind her back and then kicked her away, it was then that a horde of creatures stormed into the room. Seeing this Nightshade pulled out her sword but before she could use it Batman pulled her out of the way and they both started running.

Just as they ran the creatures came after them, Nightshade kept looking back at them, Artemis had joined them now. They ran through a door that led to a tight hallway where they found Miss Martian, Aqualad and Martian Manhunter, Batman tried knocking them down while Nightshade jumped over them, Aqualad grabbed her arm but she kicked him in the face forcing him to let go. "Sorry guys I can't deal with you right now," she said and using her powers she formed a fire wall that left the three of them breathless and kept the others from reaching them. "Okay, three down, five more to go," she said as both of them slowed down.

"Found two more," said Batman stopping in front of Superboy and Zatanna, there was a creaking sound so they turned around to see Rocket, "make that three," he corrected as they found themselves trapped. Nightshade made the first move, she launched herself towards Rocket while Batman took on Superboy. They were doing fine until Zatanna's spells started interrupting them; Nightshade took a punch across the face and Rocket's powers threw her against the wall. Batman had beaten up Superboy but he still kept going until one hit from Superboy threw him to the other side of the room next to Nightshade.

The next time Rocket attacked, Nightshade threw fireballs at her and got close to her, close enough to hit her in the head with the back of the sword. Batman on the other side had just punched Superboy with a piece of kryptonite inside his closed fist leaving him weak enough to pass out from the blow, that meant that the only one left was Zatanna who was chanting spells until Nightshade crept up from behind her and covered her mouth. Without being able to speak she couldn't do any of the spells and with the help of Batman they made sure she stayed silent for a while.

Just as they were about to walk out of the room a gust of wind passed right by them. They looked up to see Kid Flash standing in front of them. "Does Flash's contingency plan works with Kid Flash?" asked Nightshade only to see Batman shaking his head. "But you have one, right?" she asked, Batman nodded. He was about to move when he was hit in the back by a laser that sent him flying to the other side of the room; they both turned around to see Wonder Woman and Superman standing behind them.

"Dibs on Kid Flash!" said Nightshade and ran towards the speedster leaving Batman with Wonder Woman and Superman. So while he fought them Nightshade tried to get Kid Flash but he was just slipping away, so instead of going to where he was she started attacking to where she thought he would be and finally managed to hit him forcing him to stay still for a while. She then formed a fire circle around him not letting him run away, so when he tried to attack her she simply dodged and punched him on the side throwing him to the edge of the circle and then using the back of her gun to knock him out.

She turned to look at Batman who had somehow managed to fight off Superman and Wonder Woman, but they were still coming on to him. Nightshade stretched out her hand and threw a fireball at Wonder Woman leading her away from Batman and Superman. The moment Wonder Woman started throwing kicks and punches Nightshade started avoiding her occasionally turning her head to look at Batman. He had pulled out a new kryptonite rock making Superman weak, he then pushed the rock with his feet next to Superman and rushed towards Nightshade who was tied up with Wonder Woman's lasso. The girl tried to break it but it soon seemed impossible, Wonder Woman pulled Nightshade towards her and prepared to punch her but she ducked avoiding her fist.

"Hey, has anyone ever gotten out of this thing?" she asked Batman that was waiting for her to break free from the lasso with a small metallic ball in his hand when he shook his head. "Of course no one has," she said to herself and grabbed the lasso, "Wanna see something interesting I learned recently?" she asked Batman as a fire formed around her hands and it slowly started turning into a blue flame that made its way towards Wonder Woman's hands forcing her to let go of it. Once she was free Batman placed the ball on the ground and pressed it, it projected numerous enemies that Wonder Woman started fighting forgetting about them. Before leaving, Batman looked back at the lasso that was now lying on the ground, it had been partially burnt to a crisp and its color had changed, he then directed his gaze towards Nightshade that was now pushing the big door ahead.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to find me," said Faust standing in front of a ritual site in the far end of the room, soon creatures started to emerge from the ground and launched themselves at them, "I was actually expecting you. Without you two I can't complete my ritual and that would be a shame," Nightshade took out her sword and started swinging it around cutting through some of the creatures while Batman used his batarangs and hand to hand combat to destroy the other creatures. After a long wave they pair started to feel tired and that was when the last member of the team showed up accompanied by Huntress, Red Shot and Livewire.

Robin landed behind Nightshade and threw her against the wall with a single kick, the teen got up rubbing the back of her head as she glanced up at Robin who was ready to strike again and Huntress standing beside him. Meanwhile Batman had to deal with the siblings as they started attacking him, he threw batarangs at them, but using their powers they destroyed them. He used his grappling hook to get to Livewire and took her down to the floor using her as a shield for when Red Shot attacked him. Livewire released electricity out of her fingertips shocking Batman, once he was able to move he saw Red Shot preparing a new attack but before he could do anything a fireball knocked him over. Batman looked at Nightshade, she was struggling with Robin and Huntress, she would pin their clothes to the wall only to have them rip them and counterattack; she was tired, he could tell just by looking at her and if he could that meant that so could Faust. He received a blow from Red Shot and Livewire at the same time, struggling to get up he reached out to grab Livewire and placed her in between him and Red Shot making Red Shot fire at his own sister knocking her out.

Just then an unconscious Robin and Huntress came flying into Red Shot pushing him towards the wall, Batman took this chance to Knock Red Shot out and focus on Faust. "Well, that was short lived," said Faust turning around to face them. Nightshade slowly made her way towards him, her wounds closing as she walked over, "come on Nightshade, you really can't be that mad. After all I was the one that saved your family's life and of course gave you an extra hand to help around that twisted little mind of yours," he said raising an eyebrow.

"You helped no one. It was fine at first, they were just like normal, until their minds started to rot and they became mindless puppets," she said, "it started with my parents, then my sisters, then Noah and you just had to finish off with my older brother!" she said raising her sword and taking a swing at him, but he used his staff to block the sword. His staff glowed and more creatures started to come out and Batman blocked them out. Nightshade swung the sword once more but he kept blocking her hits.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked getting closer to him.

"I needed puppets and it just happened that my collection won't be complete without the whole Justice League and the sidekicks," he said as he backed away getting closer to the ritual site, that held a grayish liquid inside. Nightshade turned her head for a minute to look at Batman who saw her watching.

"Nightshade, we don't have much time," he said fighting off the creatures, she turned around just in time to dodge a kick from Faust. Nightshade found herself panting, it was hard to keep up with him, those earlier fights had really taken a toll on her and Faust knew it. Taking a step forward she threw a punch at his face, then another one and another one until she brought him to his knees.

"Okay, okay. You can stop now, please. Nightcrawler," he pleaded, Batman looked back at them, somehow, while he was busy Nightcrawler had come out and she was now reaching down to Faust. "What are you going to do? Please don't" he said covering himself with his staff.

"Relax old man," she said grabbing his staff and breaking it with her bare hands, "Let's see if this would do," she said and as soon as she broke it the creatures attacking Batman disappeared and the teens lying on the ground started to get their color back. Nightshade looked down at Faust and knocked him out with a kick then walked towards Batman and handed him the broken staff. He looked at her, it was still Nightcrawler her hair now looked completely red, he assumed she had matching eyes but he couldn't see them since she had the mask on; then slowly her hair started to fade and turn back to the usual brownish black.

"What are you going to do with your parents?" he asked.

"I'll handle them, if they cause problems I'll take care of it so don't worry about it," she said as she watched the Justice League walk into the room accompanied by the team just as Robin, Red Shot and Livewire where waking up.

"Nightshade look out!" yelled Rocket as Faust staggered towards her with a knife on his hand, the girl didn't manage to move away allowing Faust to stab her in the back. After being stabbed, she turned around and quickly kicked him in the face this time knocking him out for sure, then slowly she pulled out the knife from her back and the others watched as the wound closed.

"Stupid old man," she said looking down at Faust. Robin stood still as he watched his nightmare come true and he couldn't do anything since the siblings immediately rushed towards Nightshade and wrapped their arms around her. Wonder Woman directed her glance at Batman specifically to the burnt lasso he was holding.

"Faust did that to my lasso of truth?" she asked "but how did he?" she asked then she saw Batman looking over at Nightshade. The girl let go of the siblings and walked up to her.

"Look, before you say anything I just need to—," she started, looking up at Wonder Woman and moving forward when Batman put his arm in front of her.

"This might explain why I wanted Nightshade on the team," he said looking past Wonder Woman and towards the Justice League, "I need to keep an eye on her. I assume you will understand that it can't be done from a prison cell," he said and walked away. Wonder Woman looked at Nightshade one more time before going off after Batman.

"Thank you," said Superman before going after them, she also received an acknowledging nod from the rest of the Justice League before they went away. She watched them leave before slowly turning around to see the team standing there not knowing what to do. Nightshade stared at them as their eyes examined every inch of her body.

"You changed your suit," Kid Flash broke the silence, "and is that a sword?" he asked, Nightshade Nodded. He smiled at her and rushed forward for a hug, Artemis and Miss Martian followed. Superboy moved closer with Rocket and Zatanna and they pulled her in for a big hug that broke apart after a few seconds. Now Aqualad had gotten closer and they stared at each other for a while before he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm glad you're safe," he said giving her a smile.

"And I'm glad you are back on the team, you wouldn't believe the missions we had," said Miss Martian as she watched Nightshade, but she was looking away from her, her gaze directed towards Robin that had stayed behind. "You _are_ back on the team right?" she asked when Nightshade started walking towards him taking off the necklace he had given her, placing it on his palm and closing it.

"Sorry," she said and then turned around, "I have to think somethings over and right now I don't believe I'll be able to do that being on the team," she said looking over at Lance, Skye and Huntress, the three of them where standing in the corner watching the whole scene.

"Wait, you can't do that!" yelled Artemis as she walked towards Huntress. They were about to go to her when Aqualad spoke up.

"Take your time, there will be an open spot for you when you come back," she smiled and the four of them walked away. Robin tightened his fist around the necklace and put it away and as he watched Nightshade walking away from them he felt a knot in his throat, he wanted to say something, he really did but he couldn't make out the words.


	19. Relations

-Gotham City. Ace Chemicals- November 6- 5:42 P.M-

Zatanna found herself running away from Harley Quinn after she was called by Batman to take care of an unknown disturbance that turned out to be Harley and her thugs doing some dirty job for the Joker. She turned around to see Harley running after her with a mallet and just behind her more thugs had appeared; Zatanna used a spell to freeze the floor and they fell over, all of them except for Harley that merely jumped over the ice cape and kept running.

"Come on, I just want to play! I promise I won't harm you…Much," yelled Harley as she laughed hysterically. Zatanna glared at Harley and then turned her head to the front to see a dead end, gulping once she reached the wall she turned around to fight Harley. Zatanna ducked as Harley swung her mallet at her and from the floor she did a round house kick that forced Harley to the ground. Taking the opportunity Zatanna ran off in the other direction, but Harley quickly got back on her feet and followed her, "Okay, I didn't like that," she said turning around the corner while looking at the girl's back.

Zatanna looked back at Harley, and while she did she ran into a girl that looked right about her age if not younger, red head and a black, green and purple suit with a big question mark on the chest. Harley prepared herself to hit Zatanna with her mallet and Zatanna didn't even have time to get up when someone stepped on the red head's back, jumped over her and kicked Harley in the face. Zatanna looked up to see Nightshade standing in front of Harley so she jumped up and stared at her. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, I thought I was saving you," she said as she watched Harley and the other girl getting up, "I was going after Enigma which brought me here," she explained pointing at the red head that had just gotten up from the ground. A grunting sound forced both girls to turn around to see Harley Quinn lifting her mallet once again with a slight scowl on her face, on the other side Enigma was already up and ready to attack.

"Oh look at that! It's Nightshade, I was looking forward to seeing you again," she said adjusting the mallet over her shoulder. Zatanna looked at Nightshade, her hair was up to her hips and the new red and black suit that made her look a little bit more threatening. Henchmen walked into the room and that was when the girls understood it was a trap, they were surrounded and the only way out was by fighting them. Zatanna made the first move, she used a spell to push some of them back while Nightshade was taking out her knives; she started throwing them around pinning them to the wall or stabbing them on the shoulder. Harley and Enigma joined the fight when the number of henchmen started to go down rapidly; Harley went straight for Zatanna while Enigma resumed her fight with Nightshade.

Zatanna tried to dodge Harley's hits at the same time as she tried to get rid of more henchmen. _**"Zatanna to Robin,"**_ she called out on her comm. _**"Robin are you busy?"**_

"_**Z? Are you alright?"**_ he answered hearing the girl a bit agitated, _**"We're not doing anything big, do you need backup?"**_ he asked, Zatanna looked over at Nightshade, she was handling Enigma and the thugs, but they were both pretty tense and god knows for how long she had been chasing Enigma.

"_**That would be very useful actually,"**_ she said kicking a thug away from her, Robin agreed and hung up. Zatanna had to avoid the unconscious flying bodies of the thugs that Nightshade was throwing her way, she was now using her powers and thus, she was getting rid of them faster.

"Now this is a show," said Harley as she hit Zatanna with the mallet. The girl managed to take it without passing out, but it did leave her a bit light-headed. Nightshade took out a small black tube and pressed a button at the end; a sword came out form the tube, it was slim and double edged and she struck them down. She switched hands every now and then to get a better position so the sword would harm them but not kill them, until she reached a point where they would just get back up again and charge at her. In that moment Nightshade started making more serious injuries keeping from fighting. Zatanna started using her powers to corner the other part of the thugs against the wall and then she tied them all together with the pipes that ran along the old building leaving the original four girls in the room.

"_**Zatanna? We're getting close to the building. How's the situation in there?"**_ asked Aqualad on the other side of the comm.

"Oh, about that little team of yours," started Enigma, "after Nightshade and I came inside all the door where locked, and just to keep this a private party, there's bombs on every possible entrance. So the moment they come in…"

"Ka-boom!" yelled Harley throwing her hands in the air; Nightshade and Zatanna looked at each other.

"Call them off," said Nightshade, Zatanna drew her hand closer to her ear.

"_**Guys, there are bombs on every entrance. Don't come in here,"**_ she said keeping her eyes on Harley and Enigma.

"_**Are you sure?"**_ asked Aqualad.

"_**Not really, but you are not about to find out, so stay out of the building,"**_ she said, and just as she did Nightshade pulled her out of the way of an oncoming flying mallet. "Are you fucking crazy!" she yelled at Harley who was smiling at them.

"I'm going to save you some breath and just say yes," answered Nightshade taking out two knives and throwing them at both girls pinning them to the wall.

"Nightshade! Don't run away!" yelled Enigma. Nightshade grabbed Zatanna's hand and ran deeper into the building.

"Ask Robin if he has the blueprints of this place, we need to get out of here or else those two are going to kill us," she said taking a turn. Zatanna looked at Nightshade, a part of her was happy that she was okay and another part of her resented Nightshade for just leaving the team like that and if she felt like that, she couldn't imagine what Robin was feeling.

"_**Robin, do you have the blueprints of the building?"**_ she asked running behind Nightshade, hearing Harley and Enigma's footsteps.

"_**Are you kidding? We've been tracking you for the last hour. If you keep going straight you'll find the exit, to your next right there's the center of the plant where they kept all the chemicals in containers, so keep going. Z, how are you going to get out?"**_ he asked as he and the others looked at the screen coming off his wrist. A single green dot lit up and moved along the corridors, then suddenly instead of heading for the nearest exit she turned to the right. _**"What are you doing?!" **_He asked looking at the screen.

"_**I don't know. Where are we going?" **_she asked not realizing the comm was still on.

"_**Z? Who's with you?"**_ he asked, but then she noticed and tuned the earpiece off. Nightshade had taking the right turn and they were now in the main chamber of Ace Chemicals. Four, empty large containers sat on the room with a long but tight catwalk that hung above them. Nightshade climbed the stairs and stepped into the walkway.

"Nightshade what are you doing?" asked Zatanna stepping into the catwalk just as Harley and Enigma came in from behind.

"I'm trying to get us out of here, thought it was obvious," she answered as they both backed away from the other girls. "Harley you still owe me a favor, and a big one. So just let us out and this won't hurt as much," she reminded her to which Harley smiled.

"Sure, but that was before Mr. J told me what you did to him Nightshade," she said and took out a gun, "You mistreated my sweetie and now you'll pay for that," she said and pulled the trigger. Nightshade managed to dodge the bullet by ducking at the same time as she took one of the pipes that belonged to the broken handrail of the platform and threw it at Harley hitting her in the stomach. This time Enigma charged at Zatanna and started throwing punches, she took some of them until she pushed her away which resulted in Enigma falling into one of the containers not being able to get back into the catwalk.

"That's actually not a bad idea," said Nightshade looking at Zatanna from the corner of her eye as she avoided Harley's hits. She turned to the side and leaned on the handrail as she raised her leg to kick Harley in the face. Unfortunately for Nightshade, the handrail came off and she started falling down into another container only to be caught by Zatanna who had used a spell to be able to levitate right up to Nightshade. "If you can fly then do it sooner," she said as they landed back on the catwalk.

"I'm sorry I thought I was saving you," she answered back with a smile, this sort of reminded her of the time they fought Blockbuster together. Harley stood on the far end of the catwalk ready to strike again when she noticed that Nightshade had stopped looking at her and instead she was focusing on the small glass window that led to the roof of the building and that was when Harley realized that there were no bombs in that window. She reached out for her gun one more time and, as she ran closer, she shot this time aiming at Zatanna. Nightshade heard the shot and moved Zatanna out of the way but instead she was the one that got shot in the shoulder and fell to her knees holding onto the rail.

"Nightshade!" yelled Zatanna as she leaned down next to her friend, both girls turned to look at Harley who was laughing hysterically then they noticed that she was holding a trigger in her hand and before they knew it she pressed the button and a series of explosives went off.

"Nighty night," said Harley before rushing off into the building. Hearing this from the outside the team rushed in to help only to find Zatanna looking around the room searching for someone, but Harley had been long gone and Enigma was yelling from the bottom of the container. Superboy jumped down to get Enigma and then returned to the catwalk with the handcuffed teen where the other tried to get Zatanna out of the building before it fell.

"No, wait! You guys don't get it, she was here," she said in between coughs still looking around the room amongst the smoke and fire.

"What are you talking about?" asked Kid Flash covering his mouth and nose with his hand trying not to breathe in the fumes just as they all walked out of the building.

"Nightshade, she was here. She came here chasing after Enigma and then just a few minutes ago she was standing right there," she said pointing to the place where both of them where when the bombs went off. They looked at each other and then at Zatanna with a bit of concern on their faces. "You don't get it, we have to find her! Harley tried to shoot me but Nightshade got in the way and now she's injured," she explained.

"You mean Nightshade was shot?" asked Huntress, they team all turned around to see her standing next to Aqualad that was waiting outside with Miss Martian since they couldn't come in because of the fire.

"Oh you bet she was, it was beautiful. Right through the shoulder, it would have been the chest if only she had waited a few more seconds," said Enigma as she and Superboy walked out, "but you really shouldn't waste your breath, she is probably dead by now," she continued.

"What do you mean? Her wounds close instantly after an injury," said Superboy.

"No they don't, Nightshade's healing factor is flawed; the only thing that doesn't heal are bullet wounds. If it's not treated right away she will bleed out. When she escaped from The Light, the experiment was left incomplete and that problem was never solved," explained Huntress. Hearing this Robin rushed into the building, the team and Huntress right behind him. Soon Kid Flash was the first one to catch up to him and matched his speed, he looked at Robin, his jaw was tense and he was running faster than usual. Robin looked around noticing a shadow shifting through smoke and flames, soon they caught up with it to find Nightshade leaning against a wall, a bloody hand covering her wound.

She looked at them and then clicked her tongue as she leaned further against the wall. "You guys have really bad timing," she said slipping out of consciousness. When Nightshade opened her eyes, she was being carried into the cave by Superboy, "Put me down," she grunted trying to push him away, but of course he didn't budge. She felt a slight pressure on her shoulder, and so she glanced over to see a piece of cloth wrapped around it completely soaked in her blood and now it was leaking leaving a path of tiny blood drops as they made their way deeper into the cave. Nightshade saw Black Canary and Batman waiting in front of the infirmary and as soon as Superboy placed her on the bed she lost consciousness once more.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was on an I.V drip lying on the bed inside the infirmary of the cave. She slowly sat on the bed and looked at her bandaged shoulder, it hurt terribly when she moved so she winced with every position shift. She looked around, this time no one was inside, she was all alone in the room and somehow that made her feel a bit disappointed. The door opened and Batman walked inside accompanied by Huntress, he looked at her before walking closer to the bed.

"It will take a while, not only you were shot, the bone was also fractured, so the recovery will be slow. You lost a lot of blood and why didn't you tell me about this?" he asked looking at the teenager. How in the world does that come up in a conversation, like hi what's up I have this really cool thing where my wounds heal, but the only problem is that I can't get shot. She thought, Nightshade stared at Batman for a while before sinking back on her pillow, honestly she had no energy to argue and lately she hadn't been on the talking mood. Huntress walked up to her and sat down on the bed; it was official, any sort of movement hurt her, even the bouncing of the springs in the mattress hurt her arm. She was in the middle of recovering from that when Zatanna rushed into the room.

"Thank god you're alright!" she said as she hugged an injured Nightshade, the rest of the team filled the room leaving Batman in the background. Carefully Nightshade started to pull Zatanna away from her with Huntress' help. Yeah, yeah. Now get off of me, you have no idea how much it hurts, she thought as the team got a bit closer. "We were really worried, I can't believe you would do something like that," she continued.

"Nightshade, we didn't know about it," said Kid Flash in some sort of apologetic way. Nightshade shook her and pulled from the I.V drip; she sat up on the edge of the bed and pulled herself up in what looked like a painful process.

"Of course you didn't, I never told you and I really wasn't planning on telling you," she said slowly making her way through the team and towards the door. Huntress walking right behind her with Nightshade's bloody clothes in her hand, it was no use arguing with Nightshade, she was as stubborn as they come.

"Be careful not to reopen that wound," said Robin as she passed him by, the girl didn't even look at him, she just kept walking and didn't turn back until she and huntress where out of the cave.

"So? Are we going after Harley?" asked Huntress walking next to Nightshade.

"Did you ever doubt it?" she answered going off towards the sidewalk, "Where's your bike?" she asked, Huntress smiled and dangled the keys in her finger.

"Oh, so now you want a ride," she answered and bumped her on the shoulder.

"It hurts, it hurts!" said the teenager grabbing her shoulder.

-Gotham City- November 11-

Huntress and Nightshade ran into Harley just as she was making it out of a bank robbery accompanied by Enigma who had broken out of Blackgate Prison the day before. "Nightshade! You're still alive," said Harley backing away a little only to bump into Huntress, "Oh you're here too…..Well I thought this might happen so I called up a friend," she said dropping the bag on the ground and just as she did Cinderblock came out of the bank breaking the wall.

"Shit," said Nightshade just as Cinderblock struck down punching the space between Huntress and Nightshade. Enigma took this chance to flee with the money, unluckily for her the team had received the silent alarm from the bank and was able to stop Enigma before she got too far away. The team was now taking her back into custody when they heard a loud noise coming from the bank a couple of blocks away.

Enigma kicked Kid Flash in the shin, causing him to let go of her and then she ran in the direction of the bank. By the moment the team caught up with her they saw Cinderblock fighting with Nightshade and Huntress while Harley gathered up the cash bags. She raised her head and saw the team, so grunting she dropped the bags once more and charged at them. The first kick was caught by Superboy, he grabbed her leg and threw her to the side; Harley got back up and charged at a different member while Enigma helped her with the others. Kid Flash was avoiding Enigma when Huntress came flying towards him knocking him down.

"Some birthday I'm having," he said as Huntress got up and then she helped him to his feet. Huntress was about to say something when a rock hand swiped their way throwing them all against the wall of the bank. Robin raised his head to see that Nightshade was the only one that hadn't hit the wall since she was being held onto by Cinderblock. He was holding her on his hand while the girl was struggling to get away.

"Let go of me you walking rock," she said kicking him, Nightshade felt his hand tightening around her body squishing her wound that hadn't fully closed. She tried throwing a couple of fireballs at him, but they barely did any damage. She could feel her skin tearing apart and her clavicle starting to crack when Rocket and Miss Martian started attacking him forcing him to let her go. Nightshade was dropped only to be caught by Superboy before she could hit the ground.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently putting her down, when she nodded he walked away from her and joined the fight against Cinderblock. Nightshade touched her shoulder, her suit was damp and her hand was left with a red blood stain.

"Crap," she said, looking around she saw Kid Flash, Zatanna, and Robin fighting with Harley, while Rocket, Superboy, Aqualad and Miss Martian fought Cinderblock. So where did Enigma go? She asked herself looking around for the green and purple suit when Enigma hit her from behind.

"Looking for me?" she asked, immediately Artemis and Huntress showed up to back Nightshade up. Feeling a little drowsy from the hit she managed to keep her balance and return the attack, Artemis reached out for an arrow from her quiver and turned to look at Nightshade while Huntress charged at Enigma.

"You were wrong," she said trying to aim at Enigma without shooting Huntress.

"About what exactly?" she said putting her hand back on her shoulder.

"When you said you couldn't be on the team, it's not that you can't you are just scared of facing Robin," she said finally shooting the arrow, she sighed when the arrow missed Enigma and took out another, "We miss you, we all miss you," she said glancing over at the team for a second before shooting one more time.

"Why would I be afraid of the little bird?" she asked taking out a knife and running towards Enigma, Nightshade used it to pin her clothes to the ground and then let Huntress and Artemis take her out. They turned around to see Harley in handcuffs and Cinderblock on the ground; the team had just finished so Huntress and Nightshade walked away to where they parked their bikes.

"Nightshade, your wound's soaking your suit," said Huntress as they walked away. Nightshade suddenly rushed towards her bike, reached out for a black jacket and pulled out a small gift box from the pocket. "Hey!" Huntress yelled after her as she ran off towards the team, but not before making sure the jacket covered her wound, and handed Kid Flash the small box.

"Happy birthday Wally, it's just a small thing but I hope you like it," she said and started to walk away but the speedster caught up and pulled her in for a big hug.

"You know what would be a better present?" he asked still hugging her, "having you back on the team. I mean I know I was a jerk sometimes, and you were a bigger jerk, but I really do think you belong on the team," he said and let her go. Nightshade smiled and gave him a light kiss in the cheek.

"See you around," she said and kept walking. Kid Flash got back to the team and watched as the team stared a little shocked at him, he looked at them and then looked at himself and noticed a big blood stain on his chest. He wasn't hurt so it must have been Nightshade's blood form when he had hugged her. That meant her wound was still open, it was the first time the team had ever seen her wounds close so slowly.

"They noticed," said Huntress over the sound of the bike revving down the street.

"Of course they did, Kid Flash had a huge stain on his suit. I'm going to need a few days off to allow this to close properly," she said as they pulled over in front of an apartment building. Nightshade started to get off but then gave up halfway, "I'm going to need your help for this," Huntress smiles and gently helped Nightshade off the bike, it was hard to believe the stubborn girl could actually be so fragile. Huntress helped her get to her apartment and sat her down on one of the kitchen chairs, Nightshade took of her shirt and huntress wrapped a bandage with alcohol around her shoulder to sterilize the wound. They made as little noise as possible to not wake up Alex that was sleeping in the room down the hall, after a while, Huntress took out a needle and a thread and started stitching it up while Nightshade winced in pain.


	20. Venomous

Mount Justice – November 20 – 3:45 P.M-

"Do I look like a babysitter to you?" asked Nightshade standing across from Batman in one of the rooms inside Mount Justice, "first Camille, then Thomas Elliot, and now you want me to look after the team?" she asked placing her hands on her hips.

"It's not looking after, it's undercover back up, or would you rather assist me in Bialya?" he asked giving her a slight smirk, lately he and Nightshade had developed this strange relationship where he would order her around and she would do it, mainly because she felt she owed him something.

"So it's either Queen Bee or Bane? Are you crazy?! They fucking hate me, Queen Bee would cut my head off so she and Bane could play ping-pong with my it!" she explained, Batman just silently stared at her for a while, it was this piercing judgmental stare she hated so much, she sighed "Fine, I'll call you when I get to Santa Prisca," she said walking towards the door.

"Report any set back the team encounters, and if they need your help do not hesitate to do it, even if they are reluctant," he told her as she walked out of the room. The teenager rolled her eyes and walked into the hall, she ran a hand through her hair and adjusted it to the side. She walked into the main room to exit the cave when she spotted a white thing rushing towards her, the next thing she knew she was on the floor getting growled at by Wolf. The team and Black Canary walked in and just as they were heading for training thy saw Wolf on top of Nightshade.

"What are you doing here?" asked Black Canary as Nightshade got Wolf off of her, but before she could answer the girls dragged Nightshade into a room and all that they boys could hear from the outside was Nightshade yelling at them telling them to stop taking her clothes off. After a few minutes they walked out, Nightshade adjusted her shirt and put on her jacket.

"Her wound is already closing," said Zatanna going back to her place, "Slowly, but it's healing,"

"I feel so violated, by the way, what is that?" asked Nightshade looking at the girls before directing her gaze at Wolf.

"Right, you haven't met Wolf," said Superboy as Wolf walked up to him and sat down beside him to be patted. "I found him, he is very friendly I'm sure you two will get along….in time," he said watching Wolf growl at Nightshade.

"I don't think so, animals don't like me. Especially dogs I don't know why," she said looking at him and then at Black Canary, "Nothing really important, just you know a weekly meeting to scold me," she answered her question and waved goodbye before walking away, the team followed her with their eyes until Black Canary yelled after her.

"Care to spar with me?" she asked, Nightshade turned around and shook her head.

"Sorry, wound still healing," she pointed to her shoulder, "thanks for the offer though, another time I'll gladly kick your ass," she said turning around and finally leaving the cave. Robin looked back following Nightshade with his eyes until she was completely out of sight. They hadn't talked at all since the Faust incident, he wanted to talk to her, but every time he would try Nightshade was unavailable or she just flat out ignored him. The team followed Black Canary inside the training room only to be stopped by Batman.

"I need the team," he said waling inside showing them some images of Santa Prisca, "there has been some abnormal activity in Santa Prisca. Bane started producing his venom again but this time there's no evidence of it getting out of the island. I want you to find out what is happening and stop him before he completes his plan," Batman finished and the team rushed off the room towards Miss Martian's plane. Black Canary looked at him, he seemed clam as always and his rough expression made it hard to guess what he was thinking.

"Speaking of plans, what's your deal with Nightshade?" she asked him.

"I'm taking advantage of the fact that Nightshade owes the Justice League a couple of favors, so I sent her as an undercover back up," he said giving a slight smirk.

"Oh, they are not going to like that…She must have been mad," said Black Canary and then she stayed silent for a few seconds, "good job," she told him smiling at the thought and walked off. Batman walked on the opposite direction towards the hangar and got on his plane, on the way he did some research on Bane, and after a couple of hours a call came in through his comm.

"Hey Batsie, I just got to the island, there are guards on every side of it, they are going to have it though," said Nightshade, she was panting and it sounded as if she was walking.

"Good, keep me posted," he said and resumed his research.

-Santa Prisca- 6:37 P.M-

When the team landed in the island they divided in three teams, Aqualad, Superboy, Wolf and Zatanna went through the woods in the back of the island. Robin, Kid Flash and Artemis took the front and approached the lonely warehouse in the middle of the island while Rocket and Miss Martian stayed on the sky ready to provide back up. The first team found guards patrolling the woods, and some other guards knocked out on the path they were following. Aqualad found this a little suspicious, but they keep sneaking around using Superboy's hearing to avoid the oncoming guards. Soon they found themselves in the middle of four groups of guards coming their way, in an attempt to hide, Zatanna triggered an alarm system tied to sensors that ran along the trees.

Hearing the alarm, the four groups of guards threw themselves at them, Superboy fought them off using his strength, while Aqualad used electricity and Zatanna was casting spells to keep them at bay with Wolf throwing himself at the guard biting them. They were almost done when the guards started getting up, they started glowing green and their clothes started to rip. Soon it was a mix of grunting and tearing, they started getting taller and bigger, and their muscles grew ripping their shirts. "It will take more than that to beat us," one of them said walking closer to the group and taking a swing at Superboy who intercepted the blow.

"Funny I was about to say that," he said and just then Rocket landed taking down some guards, Superboy pulled on his fist and as soon as he was close enough Superboy punched him on the face. Aqualad jumped and kicked another one in the chest pushing him back, he took out his swords and started fighting them off. From the shadows Nightshade watched them, she was about to go out when Rocket landed on the site so she hid back. Wolf noticed her and he growled in her direction, but the team took it as if he was growling to the guards. She leaned down and used an earpiece to listen to what was going on with the other group, but there was complete radio silence.

"Hey Batman, I figured out what Bane is using his venom for, he is creating super—"

"Super soldiers. I know. I'll inform Aqualad," he said, Nightshade rolled her eyes.

"If you knew already then say so, you are so not fun," she said and then glanced back at the group when she heard a loud thud, "Aqualad might be a little busy, you should try Robin. They decided to split up which is kind of stupid if you ask me," she continued looking away from the group and making her way to the other team, Batman didn't say anything, "But of course you didn't ask me. I'll let you know more once I get to the other team," she finished.

On the other side the others heard the alarm going off but decided to stay focused on their part of the mission. Kid Flash used his goggles to locate the guards as they walked towards the building, they had a clear, direct path towards the building so they hurried over. Just when the building came into view Batman called Robin and told him about the super soldiers, he hung up and warned the team as they got closer. They avoided the guards by sneaking around in the bushes and finally got into the building only to be welcomed by more thugs that where undoubtedly waiting for them.

"Did you really think I didn't see you come in here," said Bane jumping down from the second floor of the warehouse. "Because if so, then you are dumber than I thought," he said cracking his knuckles, and the rest of the thugs started transforming into super soldiers. Miss Martian showed up next to them and got in fighting position.

"Do you think the others are done?" she asked, but no one answered, they didn't know. The first thug charged at them but Miss Martian stopped him with a piece of furniture, he was followed by the others and soon the fight broke out. Artemis started throwing arrows at them to keep them away from the group, but most of them would just rip the arrow off and keep attacking. On the other side of the room Kid Flash was fighting them head on going as fast as he could to take down as many as he could but they were just getting back up. Robin was having a hard time dealing with Bane, he had decided to go after him since Bane had always held a personal grudge against Batman for reasons that were unclear to Robin. He kicked him and punched him but it didn't seem to bother Bane.

"Come on kid, I know you have more than that," said Bane moving forwards and throwing a punch which Robin avoided letting Bane punch the wall. Robin then took out a couple of birdarangs that, as soon as they landed on Bane, released an electric charge that forced Bane to the ground. Robin thought that was it and moved back, but then Bane started laughing as he got up and swung his hand he managed to throw Robin against the wall. Walking towards him Bane ripped off the birdarangs and prepared to stab Robin with them, but as soon as he lifted his hand up, the teenage boy that sat on the ground with his back against the wall saw a shadow jumping down in front of him and kicking the birdarang away from Bane's hand.

"It has been a while, never thought I would see you again," said the person whose voice Robin recognized as Nightshade. Bane put his hands down and stared at the young girl standing in front of him, he didn't say anything for a while but then he tried to smash Nightshade who grabbed Robin and moved away from Bane, "I don't know what I expected," she said still holding onto Robin's arms until he cleared his throat, she looked at him and then quickly let go.

"Why are you here?" asked Kid Flash regrouping with the two of them "of course, it's not like I'm complaining or anything, just wondering."

"Batman called her to babysit on us," said Robin getting up, the others had managed to knocked the thugs down so the only one left in the room was Bane. "So, what did you do to Bane?"

"Well he called it undercover back up, and it was either this or seeing Queen Bee," said Nightshade as Artemis and Miss Martian slowly approached them keeping their eyes on Bane, and before she could answer Robin's question Bane intervened.

"She broke into my lair once, wrecked the place looking for my venom to see if she could cure herself. By the way how did that work out for you?" he asked, Nightshade glared at him. It was true, she was desperate to reverse what the Light had done to her she thought that his venom would somehow break the effects of the experiment, but all it did was accelerate the process and make her throw up for eight whole days.

"Come on, you can't still be mad about that!" she said, angered Bane lifted up a table and threw it at them, Miss Martian was about to take it out of course when the table was consumed by blue flames and when it vanished Bane was enraged by the smirk in Nightshade's face as she held her hand out, so he charged at them.

"What was that?" asked Robin as they all moved out of the way.

"Just a little something I learned recently," she said and then looked at him one more time, "by the way you are welcome," she said before moving out of the way of an oncoming lamp.

"Right, well remind me to thank you when we get out of this one," he told her before running towards Bane and kicking him in the face. The fight when on for a while and then the other half of the group walked into the main warehouse to find the others fighting Bane. Aqualad finally found out who was the one that knocked out the first gurads, but when he saw them, Bane signaled and another group of super soldiers came in and attacked the team, they took them all even though they were beaten and tired. Nightshade was fighting some of them but was overwhelmed by their strength and they caught her, the team stopped fighting and watched as they handed Nightshade to Bane. He grabbed her arm and threw her on the ground forcing her to kneel on the ground in front of him; he reached out for one of her knives and pressed it against her neck pulling her head back by her long hair.

"Now kids, don't move. I really don't need any motivation to kill her right now, so you stay put and watch," he said. "Apuesto a que jamás habías estado tan cerca de la muerte," he told her leaning down and whispering in her ear and just as she felt the pressure of the knife she quickly moved her head giving her a small cut and instead of her throat Bane cut her hair. Getting up Nightshade kicked him in the stomach pushing him back, just as she did Robin reached out for one of the three tubes that provided him with venom and ripped it off.

Enraged Bane charged at the first one he saw that turned out to be Superboy, he blocked the attack but Bane's strength managed to push him back a little. Superboy looked at him and punched him across the face, Bane pushed him further back and into the wall. Struggling to get out of his grip Superboy reached out for another one of the tubes and pulled it off forcing Bane to let go, and then Rocket blasted the last one. Defeated Bane stumbled to the ground and looked up to see Superboy and Aqualad ready to punch him, and once they were done with him Zatanna and Miss Martian tied him around a pole with a piece of metal inside one of the prisons of Santa Prisca. "Hey! Wait! You can't leave me here," he yelled after them, Nightshade turned around and leaned closer to the cell.

"Te diría que nos volveremos a ver, pero realmente no creo que vayas a salir de esto," she said.

"Ahora qué? Vas a llamar a Batman, lo he vencido antes," he said giving her a smirk, but then she smiled.

"Batman está ocupado, pero se de alguien que le gustaría destrozarte en pedazos," she said as Bane's eyes widened, "no es nada personal, destrozaría a cualquiera, pero me debe un favor. Buena suerte," in the distance Bane heard a large groan and then King Shark walked out from the shadows.

Nightshade walked out smiling, she looked up to see the team waiting for her, she looked at them a bit surprised and then, after an awkward silence Miss Martian started talking walking up to her and touched her hair, it now looked like an irregular cut since there where long chunks of hair still remaining. "And it looked nice," she said talking about the hair, Nightshade smiled.

"Well, I was planning on cutting it anyway. It was starting to bother me," she explained.

"And just how do you plan on going back?" asked Zatanna.

"Well Livewire dropped me off here, so I just figured she would come back for me, " she said looking up at the dark sky, "looks like that is not happening anytime soon—or like at all," she said and then turned to look at them.

"Are you really going to make us ask? Said Artemis crossing her arms over her shoulders, when Nightshade didn't answer she asked, "Do you want a ride back?" she sighed rolling her eyes, but Nightshade smiled.

"You are so thoughtful, thank you guys," she said making her way into Miss Martian's ship, staying away from Wolf she sat down on one of the chairs and waited as the rest walked inside. Robin sat down on the chair that was right in front of her and gave her his back the whole time, until Kid Flash nudged him on the side and pointed at Nightshade. She had fallen asleep, her hair was covering her face and she was slipping out of the chair.

"Have you guys noticed that Jade has the ability to fall asleep anywhere no matter how uncomfortable it looks?" asked Rocket looking at her.

"Like at that mission on Coast City. She leaned against the wall and slept through most of the fight with Psimon," remembered Kid Flash, "or how she is usually sleeping on the couch back at the cave….I mean was," he said.

"Yeah, but even if the only thing she does is sleep it still feels kind of empty when she is not there," said Artemis. Nightshade moved around a little and continued sleeping for the rest of the ride. Robin looked at her, remembering everything they had been through and then he remembered how she had lied to them about her past, her powers and even now she didn't tell them about the problem with her healing factor. It made him angry and confused. The necklace he had given her was still in his room on top of his desk. He couldn't bring himself to throw it away, a part of him hoped that wasn't a break up, but another part of him thought that if it was it was probably for the better. Finally he turned around once again and remained with his back turned to her for the rest of the trip.


	21. Settlement

Gotham City- Wayne Manor- November 30- 12:00 P.M-

Jade stopped in front of the big black gates that surrounded the famous Wayne Manor, it gave the place a certain gloomy atmosphere and the tall trees with withered leaves didn't help fix that. She took off her helmet and then got off her bike; she reached out for the doorbell but then she pulled her hand back, "Nope, I can't do this," she said and started to walk back, her footsteps cracking as she stepped on the dry leaves. She turned her head back and let out a small grunt "I have to do it," she said but every time her hand got close to the doorbell she would pull her hand back. Instead of trying she started to pace back and forth until her thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing sound followed by a voice coming out of the intercom.

"Miss Collins, as entertaining as this is I would like to know whether you are coming in or not. Or could it be that you'll be waiting for Master Bruce and Master Richard outside?" asked Alfred in his distinctive English accent. "If you are, make yourself useful and take the leaves out of the way, the gardener couldn't make it today," he said and buzzed off. Nightshade rushed towards the intercom and pressed the button.

"Wait! Alfred! Wait," she said hoping he would answer, "Do you mind if I wait inside?" she asked and after a few seconds the gate opened. She placed her bike behind a tree and walked over to the now opened door of the manor where Alfred was waiting for her. He led her past the living room and opened the door to a locked room to reveal a big ball room halfway decorated.

"If you don't want to rake the leaves at least you could help with Master Richard's surprise party," he said handing her a long strip of streamers. "I've been seeing you a lot lately, of course you are usually here with Miss Helena, and so this was an unpleasant surprise."

"What is he five?" she said taking off her coat and throwing it on the floor ignoring his last comment, the room was decorated with red and gold streamers and some balloons hung from the ceiling, "I've been meaning to ask, why do you hate me so much?" she asked climbing a ladder to hung up the streamers and finish the small portion of the ceiling that remained undecorated.

"I don't particularly despise you, I just dislike the fact that you messed with master Richard's head. He hasn't been the same lately," he said, "none the less, this is the first time I see him acting his age, so thank you for that," he finished and just as Jade was climbing down he handed her an invitation.

"Oh, so I am invited," she thought out loud.

"Master Bruce made an invitation for you, I want you to keep in mind that this is a formal event so sneakers and hoodies are out of the question," he said examining the teen's clothes. Jade stared at it before sighing and taking the invitation.

"I'll think about it," she said putting up another decoration Alfred had handed her. After a while of decorating in silence she looked around the room, the only thing left was the sign that read 'Happy Birthday Richard', so Jade grabbed one end of it while Alfred grabbed the other one and they hung it up nicely in the middle of the room. After that Alfred walked up to the door to close it and waited until Jade had picked up her things before closing the room and locking it while directing her to the living room.

"Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked the teen as she sat down on the sofa.

"No thanks, do you have coffee? I could really use some," she said sinking on the couch. Alfred came back with a cup of black coffee and placed it in front of her on the wooden table, "thank you. I haven't been able to sleep well lately, but I need to stay awake now," she said trying to fill out the awkward silence.

"Could it be a guilty conscience?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"Something like that," she answered releasing a small nervous laugh and taking a large sip of her coffee. Just then they heard the sound of a car coming up the driveway. Alfred left to open the door and greeted Bruce and Richard taking their coats. He then walked back into the living room to see a note written along with the invitation and a small present, the note read 'I can't do it after all' he took them all and hid them under the coats, but there was no space for the cup of coffee.

"Did we have a guest?" asked Bruce looking at the cup of coffee.

"Just a helpless child with too much free time in her hands," he said, Bruce looked past him and into the window that looked over to the back of the Manor, it was open and he managed to see Jade jumping the walls that surrounded the place and then the sound of a motorcycle revving up the street followed.

"Right," he said and then looked over at Richard that was unaware of the whole situation as he was checking his phone.

"Master Bruce, the preparations are ready," he said whispering into his ear, "but I need to stop by the post office to deliver the invitations, is there anything you need?" asked Alfred taking the invitations and slipping Jade's in the bottom then he hid the present in his jacket.

"No thank you Alfred," said Bruce walking towards Richard, "So, tomorrow is the big day, have you thought about what you want?" he asked, Richard looked at him and smiled.

"I don't know, maybe I'll invite a couple of friends over. Hey is it okay if I invite the team over? Or would you rather keep this whole thing hidden from them. You know that fact that you are Batman," he asked, Bruce thought it over for a while before answering.

"Listen, I don't think I'll be home tomorrow, so it really isn't a problem. Have fun," he said and walked away from Richard, actually Bruce had already sent the invitations for them and either way he had decided to do that the moment Nightshade had found out about his identity.

Gotham City -5:36 P.M-

Jade walked into her apartment to find a package waiting for her at the front desk, she picked it up and read the note on top. 'I would appreciate it if you gave it to him yourself' she sighed and walked up to her apartment. It was a little messy with clothes everywhere on the floor, Jade placed the package on the counter and sat down in front of it, she stared at it for a few minutes before finally opening the package. Inside was of course the present she had left for Richard, the invitation and the note she left Alfred, Jade sighed and threw out the letter leaving the invitation and the gift on the counter. She suddenly felt tired and so she heaved herself on the couch and fell asleep.

It was around eleven when Alex walked into the apartment to find Jade sleeping soundly in the couch, she looked over at the counter to see the gift and the invitation. Her face lit up when she saw what it was for, but she put them back in place when Jade shifted her position. Alex rushed over at Skye's and Lance's apartment and brought them back to show them the invitation.

"Do you know what this means?" asked Alex.

"That tomorrow it's that rich brat's birthday?" answered Lance.

"No, I mean yes, but it means that we also get to go to that party!" said Alex.

"But it's just for Jade, we can't just barge in like that," said Skye taking the invitation from Alex and putting it back in the counter.

"But it says formal, imagine people dancing and fancy drinks and it's in a manor!" she said taking back the invitation and dancing with it.

"Please, he's a sixteen year old, formal probably just means the girls will be wearing dresses and the boys a clean shirt and pants. There will be little dancing and more stupid party games and probably someone will bring in alcohol," said Skye starting to feel irritated with Alex.

"I think we should give it a try, I mean what's the worst that could happen? And I could try beating him up," said Lance and then they heard Jade getting up from the couch.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but no one is going to that party," she said taking the invitation and throwing it in the trash, "it would be extremely awkward if I went, now imagine if a person he has never seen before came accompanied by a guy that wants to beat him up and a perky girl that gets in the way. No offense," she said walking towards her room, "so goodnight," and then she slammed the door. The other two left and now Alex was alone in the room, she leaned down and picked up the invitation and then a smile appeared on her face.

-Gotham City- December 1- 3:30 P.M-

Jade was lounging around her living room when Alex walked in with a bunch of bags hanging from her arms, she placed them on the floor and walked up to Jade with a big smile on her face. "You are totally going to that party," she said grabbing Jade's arm.

"I told you I don't want to go," she answered glaring at Alex.

"Oh, come on, we are going shopping for your dress, then I'll be doing your hair and makeup. We have to be fast because we only have like two hours before the party, man we are going to be late," she said pulling on Jade's arm and getting her off the couch.

"Didn't you just came from shopping?" she asked pointing at the bags, "and what do you mean we?"

"As if I'll miss that, Skye and Lance already picked out what they are wearing, you are the only one left," she said pulling her out the door of the apartment and then dragging her down the stairs and into her car. Jade sighed and got on the passenger's seat, there was no way she was going; she was just pleasing Alex's whims. "Look, Jade I know why you don't want to go, and I get it, I totally do. I mean you guys got in big fight and right now I know you have no hopes in this relationship ever working, but I've seen this guy. While you were gone he came into the apartment to look for you and he was worried, so just talk it out," she said driving through the city going towards the shopping district.

"I'll think about it," answered Jade, Alex smiled, she knew that they were going even if that meant tying her up and dragging her to party.

-Gotham City- Wayne Manor- 6:00 P.M-

Richard walked into the manor accompanied by Wally and Artemis, they had been out all day and were just now returning to the manor to watch a movie, so he thought it was a bit odd when Wally wanted to go into one of the ballrooms of the manor. He complied and opened the door to hear a crowd yelling "Surprise!" Richard let out a smile as soon as he saw his school friends, and the people form the team along with Alfred and Bruce. They all took turns to congratulate him and then quickly went back to talking to each other.

"Happy Birthday," said Bruce laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought you said you had some business to attend to?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't miss your birthday, enjoy the party," he said and retuned to where Alfred was. Richard watched the team walking up to him, Artemis and Wally had gone inside to change and came back wearing more formal clothes, they hugged him and congratulated him.

"So Bruce Wayne, huh? I never would have guessed," said Rocket crossing her arms over her purple dress.

"Yeah, well it's a long story," said Richard, they talked for a while until Roy Harper walked over to him.

"Hey! Happy Birthday, hope you are less lame now," he said handing him a birthday present, he then greeted the other team members, "hey, I heard there was a new girl in the team, where is she?" he asked looking around. They didn't answered and an awkward silence followed the question, it was only broken by a red-head that threw herself at Richard, it was Barbara Gordon the daughter of Commissioner Gordon.

"Bet you thought I wouldn't make it," she said letting go, "sorry I was an hour late. Hi I'm Barbara Gordon," she said introducing herself to the team and Roy. They greeted her and then Artemis and Wally left to dance a little, they were followed by Megan and Conner and finally Kaldur and Rocket. Soon Roy was asked to dance by a girl and then Zatanna was taken away, so the only ones left where Barbara and Richard, he extended his hand as if asking her to dance and she took it.

"So, haven't talked to you in a while," he said as they walked over to the dancefloor.

"Well you haven't talked much with anyone. Alfred told me you got a girlfriend? Do I know her? Is from school? Where is she?" she kept asking until Richard finally started laughing as they twirled around.

"Ok, relax. I did get a girlfriend, no you don't know her and she is not from school. She might not even come, and she also might not be my girlfriend anymore," he explained with a pained look on his face. Their conversation was interrupted by the song stopping and a group of school friends that came over to talk to them, but Barbara's face told him the conversation was going to continue later. Right then he spotted Alfred going over to the front door but then got distracted by his friends.

Alfred walked over to the front door after he heard the doorbell and opened it to see Alex in a white short dress, Lance wearing a formal shirt and black jeans, Skye with a pale blue dress and finally Jade with a black and red short dress, the long sleeves where made out of lace and her hair was shorter, just a bit lower than her shoulders. "Evening Miss Collins, I see you brought your friends over," he said eyeing them.

"Well we kind of brought _her _over, but you are kind of right too," said Alex walking inside, she saw the light coming out of the ball room and walked directly to it, she was followed by Skye and Lance leaving Jade behind.

"Sorry, they saw the invitation and just insisted on coming," she explained, "but they brought gifts,"

"I bet they did. Master Richard has probably been waiting for you," he said and walked her to the room. Inside there were people dancing or talking in the corners, the other three waited for Jade at the doorway and the four walked in together. As soon as they did a ruckus was caused and people started whispering. Richard's friends were blocking his view so he had to move to see what was going on, and when he did he saw the group making their way towards the team.

"Whoa, look at that girl," said one of his friends.

"I would totally hit that," said another.

"Which one, the blonde one?" asked another friend, Richard let out a sigh of relieve.

"No, I mean there's nothing wrong with her, but the one in the black dress, man!" he said and then Richard started feeling something warming up in his chest.

"I know dude, she looks amazing. Who is she?" Asked another one, well it was true, thought Richard, she did look amazing and if to that you add the usual dark and mysterious atmosphere she has then you had a perfect combination.

"Hey? Do you know her?" asked Barbara, Richard nodded, but didn't say anything else, instead he walked away from his friends making his way towards the team only to be stopped by a girl asking him to dance with her. He followed Jade with his eyes as he and the girl moved around the room, he lost sight of her when Lance grabbed her and took her to the other side of the room for a dance. Once it was over Richard made his way towards the team.

"Richard! Happy Birthday, sorry we came even though we weren't really invited," said Skye handing him a present.

"Yeah we kind of came with Jade," said Alex, "Happy Birthday," she said with a big smile in her face. Richard recognized her immediately as Jade's roommate.

"Don't worry, thanks for coming enjoy the party guys," he said and was about to walk away when Aqualad and Zatanna grabbed him by his arm.

"Jade and Lance finished dancing and look, they are coming this way," said Aqualad, he turned around to see their faces, they flashed big smiles and let go off him. Jade was walking once again towards the team and hadn't noticed him so when she got closer Aqualad and Zatanna pushed him towards her. Jade caught him and helped him steady himself up by holding onto his arm. It was the first time she had seen him in a while, He was wearing a white shirt with a black suit jacket and black pants, his sleeves where rolled up and his hair was finally combed back nicely.

"Hi," he said looking at her and then back at the team, "so, do you want to dance?" he asked eyeing them and then looking at her. Jade nodded and they walked away from them.

"Do you think they'll break up?" asked Superboy

"Well I don't think anyone wants them to," said Miss Martian leaning on Superboy. Jade and Richard started dancing to one of the few slow songs that had been played all night, Jade tried to avoid looking directly at him so she starting gazing around the room watching all the other couples dance. Richard was doing the same, it was truly awkward so he turned to look at her and caught her smiling, holding back the laughter. He looked in the direction she was looking and saw a girl struggling to walk in her dress until she tripped on it, now both of them where trying to hold back the laughter.

"We shouldn't laugh," he said looking away from the girl, Jade smiled and turned to look at him, he was grinning.

"You are right, we are old enough to hold it in, actually we should help her," she said with a sarcastic tone, they both looked at each other and let out a small laugh that fainted just as the music died out. It was fun, it was just like before she left, but only for that split second, then it was back to being awkward.

"Jade, I think we need to talk," he said letting go of her, Jade was about to speak when Barbara came in between the two of them. She eyed Jade before speaking, the girl was shorter than her if you took off her heels and Barbara was leaner than Jade, but when she stood next to Richard they looked great.

"I'm Barbara Gordon," she said extending her hand out for Jade to shake it, she did, "Dick had told me nothing about you," she said and then looked at him.

"Babs. This is Jade Collins, my girlfriend. Jade, this is Barbara an old friend of mine," he said introducing both girls, Jade just looked at her and finally spoke.

"Nice to meet you," she said giving her a smile. That's a fake smile, thought Richard as he watched the girls talking, he could tell if her smile was fake because she would smile with her mouth closed and the smile never reached her eyes. It was a rather cold smile. Barbara kept examining Jade as they talked, she also had noticed the fake smile and that Jade talked with her hands, not exaggerated movements but rather clean and necessary. She also let out small laughs when needed and had a soft expression. After a while Lance came in to take Jade away and Barbara took the chance to ask Richard for a dance. "Right, then have fun. I guess I'll see you around," she said with the same fake smile and walked away from the two with Lance holding onto her.

"Okay, what was that?" he asked.

"A better question would be, who was that?" she asked talking about Lance.

"One of her friends, he is usually like that," he said looking at them as they walked out into the balcony.

"And it doesn't bother you? I mean he totally interrupted the conversation," she said, Richard glared at her for a moment.

"So did you," he reminded and that shut her up for the rest of the dance. Soon Richard walked out into the balcony, but hid himself behind a wall when he saw Lance and Jade chatting, he couldn't quite make out the words, but they were laughing and the warm sensation in his chest returned. Why am I hiding, he thought, I should just go up to them and ask to speak with her, after all she is my girlfriend. He was just about to come out when Roy Harper walked past him.

"Hey, can I have a word with her?" asked Roy, Lance complied and walked back inside. Jade leaned down against the handrail, "It's a cold night huh?"

"I'm sorry, you seem to know me, but I have no idea who you are," she said getting her hair out of her face.

"Right, I'm Roy Harper," he said and extended out his hand for her to shake it.

"Oh, then I'm Jade Collins. So what brings you here, you know out in the cold balcony?"

"Well I saw you and thought I might as well come talk to you. So how do you know Richard?"

"Well, that's a first," she said letting out a small laugh, "he is my boyfriend, well actually ex-boyfriend I'm really not sure," she said placing her chin on her hand and glancing up at Roy.

"And of course you have a boyfriend and he turns out to be my friend," he said, "but hey, that means I might have a chance if you two break up," he said jokingly, they kept talking for a while until Roy was called inside. "Let me know if that happens," he said just before leaving. Once she was alone, she lit up one of her fingers and stared at the flame for a while before putting it out when she heard footsteps. She turned around to see Richard walking her way. He stopped before getting too close to her, there was a moment of uncomfortable silence before he finally spoke.

"You look great," he said getting closer, "I think I didn't say it before when we were dancing,"

"So do you, some fancy party the old man threw for you," she said playing with the strap of her bag, they both let out and awkward laugh.

"So, are we finally going to talk about it?" he asked putting his hands on his pockets and taking a step closer looking at the girl.

"Are you sure, because there is a bunch of people waiting for you inside and it's your birthday so," she said.

"Jade…" he gave her a look and let out a small smile, "you know, whatever happens with us, it would be a good idea for you to rejoin the team. I know you were holding back because of me, but you don't have to, the team comes first and either way we both know how this is going to end," he realized how forced that had sounded so there was a moment of silence before she finally spoke.

"I don't want to break up with you," she said letting go of the strap, "I like you, I really do, probably more than I have ever liked anyone else," she said looking at him.

"Please, in the span on ten minutes two guys hit on you and that didn't seem to bother you," he said, "do you really expect me to trust you after all the lies you have told me?" Jade's face changed from worry to anger.

"You think I would flirt with them? What is wrong with you?! Unbelievable. You know I thought that if we were going to break up, it would be because of what happened with The Light, but Right know you are making it sound like your breaking up with me just because your jealous!" she raised her voice.

"I don't get jealous, and I am not breaking up with you because of what happened with the light," he said also raising his voice.

"Then say it! Why are you breaking up with me?" she said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Let me say it clearly," he said getting closer, "I'm breaking up with you because you keep too many secrets! I really have no idea who you are, and that makes me feel insecure about us okay? I have no idea what you're thinking, or what you're capable of doing, and that honestly scares me," he finally said it, and when he did he realized it himself. He looked at Jade, she bowed her head as she roamed around in her bag and pulled out a present, she let out a small laugh.

"What are we even doing then? Here, happy birthday. Once again I'm sorry," she said and slowly walked back into the ballroom. Richard looked down at the gift and opened it slowly, inside there was a small stamp with Robin in it and a book along with a short note. 'I was walking down the street and saw this book, it reminded me of you so I bought it.' The book was a self-help book about how to deal with living in someone else's shadow, he let out a laugh knowing it was just a joke as the cover slipped and it showed what the book was really about, a Charles Dickens classic.

I'm an idiot, he thought and leaned down on the handrail looking out at the front of the manor where he saw Skye and Alex getting in the car. He ran a hand through his hair, of course they are leaving he thought and then he saw Lance and Jade walking out, Lance had his arm wrapped around her waist and he pulled her closer to him. Richard looked at her for a while and started to wonder whether or not he had made the right choice, but before he could regret it he walked back inside. Just then Jade looked up at the now empty balcony and sighed when she saw no one in there.

"I too think you should go back to them," he said as they got to the car and they both got inside.

"Yeah, I think it's about time," she said leaning against him.


	22. Blood Ties

Gotham City- December 12- 9:34 P.M-

Artemis had just finished patrolling with Green Arrow through Star City and was now going back home, she had ditched her suit and was wearing civilian clothes. The night was cold and so she had on a big warm beige coat, she had forgotten her gloves so she pushed her hands into her pockets and kept walking down the street watching her breath turn white. She was distracted and so she didn't notice when someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into an alley. Her back hit the wall and it took her a few seconds to recognize that person as no one other than her sister.

"It's been a while sis," said Cheshire pulling off her mask, and pushing her knife on Artemis' throat.

"Not long enough," she said pushing her sister's arm away from her and fixing her clothes, "what do you want now? Didn't have enough when we kicked your ass the last time?" she said, and just as she did Sportsmaster came out from the shadows, her eyes widened.

"Relax kid, we are not here to harm you, we are here to recruit you once again into our little organization," he explained. "I thought you would want to spend more time around your family,"

"The only family I have is waiting for me at home," she glared at them, "now if you'll excuse me," she said and walked past them only to be stopped by Cheshire. Angered Artemis kicked her away and got in fighting position.

"You mean that wheelchair bound woman you call your mother?" said Sportsmaster, Artemis threw a punch at him but he grabbed it before it hit his mask. "You are not quite there yet, with us you could improve your technique with real training, not that thing the Justice League calls training. Just say you'll think it over," said Sportsmaster looking up at the roof and then back at his daughter. The two of them left and Artemis laid back against one of the walls, she slowly slid down and sat on the ground bringing her hands to her face. She looked up when she heard a loud thud followed by footsteps, Nightshade was standing there looking in the direction Sportsmaster and Cheshire had walked away, she still had her headphones on and the music was so loud even Artemis could hear it.

"Now that must be emotionally exhausting," she said looking at Artemis and extending her hand to help her up, Artemis took it and dust herself off.

"How long have you been here?" she asked, Nightshade took out one earbud before answering.

"Long enough to see your father and sister ambush you and ask you to work with them. If it makes you feel better, I was patrolling and then hid up there," she said pointing at the roof of the building next to them, the same place Sportsmaster had looked up to just before they left. "So what are you going to do?" asked Nightshade.

"Nothing, I really don't know why they would want me. The last time my father tried that I told him to never contact me again," said Artemis looking down at her phone searching for a number, but shut it when Nightshade leaned down to look, "either way it's my problem, so stay out of it," she said staring down at Nightshade, the height difference made it easy.

"Sure, just like you stayed out of mine," she said, Artemis was already on edge so when Nightshade provoked her she snapped and punched her across the face. Nightshade took the punch and then returned it by punching her in the stomach. "Don't take your anger out on me. Seriously how does he hope to have you working for the Light when you can't even punch properly," she whispered in Artemis' ear as she curled up gasping for air. By the time Artemis looked up Nightshade was gone, so she walked out of the alley and went straight home. Once there, she found that her mother was already in bed sleeping and so she went into her room and stared at old pictures of her family.

-Mount Justice- December 15- 5:45 P.M-

The team was gathered around Batman as he was briefing them on a mission involving Sportsmaster and Cheshire. Apparently they were looking for an old artifact that allowed the person that possessed it to enhance their powers and abilities, the League believed they were going to give it to The Light, and that they would use it to increase their respective powers in hopes of bringing down the Justice League. "This is why we need you to go after them and stopped them from giving that artifact to The Light, this matter has become a priority and so you will be responding to me. Any information you have you communicate it to me, don't do anything without my approval, this falls in the wrong hands and—" he started but was cut off by Nightshade walking in.

"It could have devastating consequences, we know Batsie," she said walking up to the team, Wolf started growling at her and it combined with Batman's glare as the team turned around to face her.

"You are late. As of now Nightshade will be rejoining the team as an official member," he said, their faces lit up, of course all of them but Artemis and Robin's, "aside from that, Red Arrow will also join you in this mission. After all he was the one that provided the League with the information and insisted on being part of it," just as he said that Red Arrow walked into the room. Just great, thought Artemis as they both glared at each other, then his eyes landed on Nightshade.

"What is she doing here?" he asked, "why would someone that worked for the Light be on this team?"

"She is part of the team. Nightshade has helped both the team and the Justice league when we needed her. She has earned our trust," said Batman, "it's not up for debate, now go!"

"Heard that pixie?" she said walking past Red Arrow, "you looked better with that yellow hat," she explained using her hands pretending to put on a hat. Red Arrow grinded his teeth and followed the team to Miss Martian's ship. Wolf was about to go in when Superboy stopped him.

"Sorry buddy, we can't have you growling at Nightshade all the time. We'll go together on another mission," he said patting his head, he lowered his ears, but then started growling when Nightshade stuck out her tongue at him from inside the ship. Wow I'm a five year old boy, she thought walking inside the ship looking for a seat.

"So this is it? No more leaving the team?" asked Rocket looking at Nightshade take a seat right behind her.

"Nope, this is it," she said, most of the team let out a sigh of relieve, "well until I get bored, then I'll try something else," she said, they freaked out for a minute before realizing she was kidding. Miss Martian set the ship to take them to Athens where, according to Red Arrow, was the excavation point for the artifact. The rest of the flight was Nightshade listening to music while receiving glares from Artemis and Red Arrow, Robin simply ignoring them while the others started to feel uncomfortable. Then, Athens came into view.

"Finally!" yelled Kid Flash.

"Do you think Wonder Woman was informed of this? After all she must know what they are looking for," wondered Aqualad.

"Of course she knows, she was the one that requested Batman to give this mission to you," said Red Arrow standing up looking over the city, "leave the ship here, we are going to have to walk from this point on. Cheshire is on that side, while Sportsmaster is on that Island." He said pointing in two opposite directions. The divided in two. Zatanna, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Rocket and Kid Flash where one team, leaving Artemis, Nightshade, Robin, Red Arrow and Superboy. The first group left for the island so the other group walked up to where Cheshire was supposed to be, Artemis and Nightshade hid behind the bushes while Red Arrow kept a look out and Robin examined the area in his computer.

"There seems to be an excavation going on minutes away from here, so we are in the right path," said Robin, he looked at Nightshade, she was playing with the cord of her earbuds leaning against the bushes until Red Arrow ripped the earbuds of her ears and got up leading the way. Nightshade placed one earbud in and followed behind the group, so it was back to her being none participant in the missions thought Robin as she walked behind him. Suddenly they stopped in front of the excavation site, Nightshade looked around to see that Robin wasn't there anymore and Red Arrow was looking straight at Cheshire who was ordering around the people working for her and Sportsmaster.

"Okay, so what happened with you and this girl?" asked Nightshade looking at Red Arrow.

"Now is not the time for stories," he said glaring at her, Nightshade, instead of glaring back pushed Superboy, Artemis and Red Arrow back when someone walked past them and just as they did she sneaked behind him and pulled him back into the bushes. The man found himself tied to a tree with Superboy, Red Arrow and Artemis looking down at him, ready to interrogate him when Nightshade leaned down to match his height. "Now buddy, you are going to tell us a couple things about this," she said with a smile planted across her lips, a chill ran down their spine when they saw it.

"Have you found anything yet?" asked Red Arrow moving Nightshade out of the way, the man shook his head, "how many of you are out there?"

"Just a dozen, they wanted it to be small," he said and then looked at Nightshade, she had pulled out a knife and started playing with it, "but they brought guards, they are everywhere I'm not sure how many of them are. Haven't seen them lately. Please don't kill me!" he pleaded, Red Arrow and Artemis turned around to see Nightshade casually putting away her knife while Superboy gave her a small smile.

Meanwhile Robin had gotten closer to the site and was hacking into their database to see if he could find something on the artifact. He stood on top of a branch, alone, thinking it was better than having to see Nightshade all the time. He thought he would be fine with her coming back, but he just couldn't face her. He watched Cheshire and the others working in the excavation and then a call came through from Aqualad. _**"Robin, it was a diversion, there is no one in the island, just guards," **_he said, he sounded a little out of breath, _**"we'll finish up here, but chances are Sportsmaster is also there,"**_ he finished before the transmission was cut off. Robin rushed off to where he had left the others while calling Red Arrow on the way.

"_**We might have a problem, Sportsmaster is not on the island, the others were set up,"**_ he explained, Red Arrow looked at the group and then at the man tied up on the tree.

"Are you sure?" he said and then they heard a loud thud, the four of them turned around to see Sportsmaster standing behind them.

"Hello little girl," he said talking to Artemis and then he proceeded to swing his knife against them forcing them to come out of their hideout. Red Arrow crashed against Cheshire who took out her Sais and started to attack him and Nightshade while Sportsmaster focused on Artemis and Superboy. They put up a fight for a while, Artemis would shoot her arrows at him, but he would just block them and after a while she was running out of arrows so she decided to save them and went in for the hand to hand combat. "Really, have you been training? Because if you think that is training, just look at your sister," he said allowing Artemis to take a glance at Cheshire's fight with the others and Sportsmaster used that to knock her down then he tuned to deal with Superboy.

Cheshire was taken aback by an explosion caused by Red Arrow, but her mask allowed her to breath with ease. Using the smoke Nightshade attacked her and managed to kick her in the face breaking a bit of the mask, Cheshire tried to thrust in her Sais, but Nightshade dodged it and it only managed to cut her on the side; she allowed Cheshire to see the wound closing shortly after and gave her a small smile. Seeing this Cheshire moved away from Nightshade and towards Red Arrow and started to swiftly move her Sais to deliver fast attacks that he couldn't avoid and she finished him off with a flash bomb that disorientated him and so she managed to kick him.

A bullet brushed past her and so she turned to see Nightshade with a gun in her hand. "You're going to be thought huh?" said Cheshire ditching her Sais and picking up a kunai. At this point Artemis and Superboy were busy fighting Sportsmaster from the ground, Artemis had managed to get him down too and so she was now on top of him throwing punches. He used his legs to get her off of him and finally standing up he kicked her on the side. Artemis coughed and sat up in time to see Robin coming in from behind Sportsmaster, she recovered while Robin and Superboy took care of Sportsmaster, but they were soon pushed away from him.

Red Arrow had gotten back up and used another arrow to see if he could manage a hit this time, he did and Cheshire fell to the ground, he and Nightshade walked up to see if she was still conscious when she got up and kicked Red Arrow in the head knocking him out. Nightshade avoided the next hit but then Cheshire cut her with the Kunai, the wound started to close but then Jade started to feel a bit light-headed. "That one had a tiny drop of venom, not enough to kill you, but enough to leave you out for a while," said Cheshire.

"I think you would like to see that," said Sportsmaster, both teens turned around and watched as Cheshire stabbed Nightshade once again with the Kunai that went through to the other side of her body, the girl fell to the floor unconscious and bleeding.

"Nightshade!" Enraged Robin charged at Cheshire who attacked him and took advantage of his anger to take him out easily. By the time the other three woke up they were the ones that were tied to one of the machines used for the excavation, the workers were still looking for the artifact and Artemis and Superboy were still up and going against them.

"You are finally up," said Red Arrow to Nightshade who was in the middle of the two boys. She looked down at her side, the wound was almost healed, and it would be only a matter of minutes before not even a scar was left. "While you were taking a little nap, Robin and I have been trying to find a way to get out of this," he said moving the rope that tied their hands together.

"I'm sorry pixie, where you the one that was stabbed?" she asked, "No? Okay then shut up,"

"Nightshade, can't you use your powers to burn the rope?" asked Robin.

"Not without burning you guys," she said, "I get the feeling that these people don't know me. I mean, who the hell would try to stab me?" she said looking at the fight going on with Artemis and Superboy.

"What? It hurts your self-esteem that there are villains out there that are not after your head?" asked Robin.

"A little, yeah," she said and started reaching out for her belt to take out a knife. Once she did she started cutting the rope to get out of there, "especially if they are working for the Light,"

Artemis and Superboy were exhausted, the fight had been going on for too long and she had barely done any substantial damage to them. "Why would I work for you, the last time I saw you two you tried to kill me," she said using and arrow that blew up at their feet, slowly Artemis was approaching the edge that led to the ocean and it was quite the fall from where they were standing. While she did that, Nightshade finally managed to cut the rope and free the other two, Robin ran to stop the workers while Red Arrow and Nightshade ran towards Artemis and Superboy. Cheshire kicked Artemis forcing her to tumble and lose her balance, she started to fall off when she heard Nightshade calling her and the next thing she saw was the brunette rushing towards her. She grabbed her hand and pulled her back up just as Red Arrow reached for Artemis' other hand thus preventing her from falling, but in turn Nightshade was the one that fell off.

"Nightshade!" yelled Artemis, they looked down to see if she had fallen into the water when they saw Rocket holding Nightshade in her arms. Soon the whole team gathered and got in fighting position, Sportsmaster and Cheshire looked at the excavation site to see that the others had taken care of both the machines and the workers who had just found the artifact. It was a round, purple, egg like thing that was being held by Aqualad. Miss Martian directed one of the cranes towards them, but they dodged it, so Aqualad handed the artifact to Nightshade, took out his sword and charged at Cheshire.

"What the hell is this?" she said examining it from every angle, suddenly the artifact slipped of her hand and just before it touched the ground Kid Flash caught it.

"I'll take this before you break it, butterfingers," he said and looked at it while getting glared at by Nightshade, "Awesome," he said poking it around to see if he could open it. Nightshade saw Sportsmaster trying to make his way over to the tired Artemis wielding a sword, when he was close enough he got ready to attack when Nightshade came in his way and with a quick hand movement she pulled out the black stick from which a sword came out just in time to block the hit.

"Now, be honest with me," she said pushing him away from Artemis, "do you really don't know who I am? Because I know you saw me the other day," she said getting closer to him and lighting her other hand on fire ready to throw a fireball at him, but before he could answer Zatanna cast a spell that took Sportsmaster away. Robin showed up next to her and eyed the sword.

"What's up with that?" he asked pointing at the sword, Nightshade gave him a estranged and hurt look before answering.

"If you really have to know, Wayne tech," she simply answered, Sportsmaster and Cheshire reunited as the team surrounded them.

"You are making a mistake by siding with the losing team," he said.

"At least they don't try to kill me," she answered and just like that her father released a laugh.

"Hate to leave you like this, but out ride is here," he said as a helicopter flew on top of them, "I guess we'll see each other soon," he said giving a quick look at Nightshade and grabbing the stair that fell from the helicopter. He and Cheshire were lifted off and as soon as they left Artemis turned to hug Nightshade who hugged her back after she got over the shock.

"I'm sorry," she simply said, but it was not like she needed to say anything else.

"I'm sorry too," answered Nightshade and then Artemis gave herself permission to collapse in her arms.

-Mount Justice- December 15- 5:35 P.M-

Artemis walked into the cave, the artifact was taken away by the Justice league saying they would look into the incident and so everything was back to normal in the cave. She saw Kid Flash, Robin and Miss Martian talking in the main room and soon the others rushed into the room. "Guys! Nightshade and Red Arrow are sparring in the training room," said Superboy and then everyone made their way towards the training room where they were being supervised by Black Canary. The spar had been going on for a while, they were using weapons and mostly they were just dodging each other's hits. It was the first time Red Arrow had seen Nightshade in action since during the fight he blacked out before she could fight Cheshire, her movements where so clean and fast it gave him the impression he was making it too easy for her so he decided to take it up a notch.

"I didn't expect you to have such good aim," said Red Arrow, "still I'm better," he said as an arrow brushed part her ear.

"I was about to say the same thing. But I bet you are not as good with the knives," she said taking one out and throwing it sticking it to the wall just behind him. The fight went on for a while before Black Canary stopped it and so Nightshade walked up to the team completely ignoring Robin.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked Artemis, the girl smiled and nodded.

"Please, you're talking about me," both of them shared a laugh and then Lance and Skye walked into the room.

Nightshade walked up to them, "I'm going to change, you guys wait here," she said and ran out.

"Whoa, bro what was that?" asked Kid Flash looking at Robin, the team and Red Arrow turned around and stared at Robin.

"Well I didn't want to tell you guys, but we broke up on the night of the party," he said running a hand through his hair.

"Nooo! What?" said Zatanna as they comforted Robin.

"What happened?" asked Aqualad.

"Do you need something sweet, because I can make cookies," said Miss Martian patting him in the head.

"Hey, it's alright. I was the one that wanted to break up, I'll be fine," As soon as he heard that Red Arrow realized something that he confirmed when Nightshade walked back in without her suit.

"You are the girl in the balcony?" he said pointing at her.

"And you are Roy Harper. Dude, did you seriously just noticed?" she asked with a smile.

"And you knew?" he asked dumbfounded, Nightshade shook her head and started to walk away with Lance and Skye.

"See you later guys. Pixie," she said walking away, the team watched Nightshade walking away and then they saw Lance wrapping his arm around her waist. Robin's chest started to feel tight again and so he distracted himself with the expression on Red Arrow's face, he smiled and gave him a pat on the back.

"Welcome to the club," he said and walked away honestly feeling a little bit angry.

-Unidentified location-

Sportsmaster and Cheshire started a transmission to The Light, the seven familiar faces popped up in the seven screens. "What news do you have for us?" asked the Brain in his distinctive computerized voice.

"We now know for certain that Nightshade is back on the team of young heroes, so the mission was a partial success," informed Sportsmaster, "unfortunately, the Justice League is now in possession of the artifact," he finished. They didn't look happy. Well, all of them but Lex Luthor who had a slight smirk planted on his face.

"So the girl is back, now that is something I can have fun with," he said and then his transmission was cut off.


	23. Deep Dark Fears

Mount Justice- December 20- 12:30 P.M-

The team was in the living room, they were all gathered around the center table watching Kid Flash and Nightshade teaching Miss Martian how to play cards. Nightshade was getting frustrated because she was losing and Kid Flash had a big smile plastered on his face because he was incredibly happy he was kicking her ass while Miss Martian barely understood what she was doing.

"Fine," said Nightshade after a looking at her cards for a long time "I'm out," she said and put her cards down on the table, Kid Flash raised his hands in early victory and started dancing around. Nightshade moved closer to Miss Martian to see her cards, so did Rocket.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Rocket, Kid Flash stopped dancing and looked at Nightshade who started nodding. He sat back down and looked at his cards and as the two girls high-fived, Kid Flash backed out of the game and asked to see Miss Martian's cards. They were complete garbage, barely made anything.

"So I won?" asked Miss Martian looking at Rocket and Nightshade, they nodded as the rest of the team laughed, Wolf rubbed his head against Superboy's hand so that he would pet him and he starts to close his eyes when Kid Flash's shouting startled him.

"That's cheating!" he said, "you two ganged up on me!" he kept talking.

"Hey, relax it's just a game," said Artemis walking up to him and placing a hand on his back and giving him a light kiss.

"Aaand now I'm uncomfortable," said Nightshade getting up from the ground and walking up to the kitchen and trying not to step on Wolf's tail, she made her way to the fridge. The team felt a bit awkward too now that they knew that Robin and Nightshade had broken up. She started grabbing food from the fridge when Batman and Martian Manhunter walked into the room.

"Uncle J'onn. Apparently I won at poker," said Miss Martian going up to greet him with a hug, he gave her a smile and then looked at Nightshade.

"Nightshade!" Batman called her attention, the girl barely looked at them and kept scavenging around the fridge.

"Can it wait until I'm done eating?" she said finally getting food out and placing it on the counter, Batman glared at her.

"You are going to have a mental training simulation session with Martian Manhunter, so no," he said, that moment the team went silent.

"Don't you remember what happened to our mental training simulation?" asked Superboy thinking back at the incident that clearly was on everyone's mind. "What if she doesn't wake up?" Batman and Martian Manhunter looked at each other.

"Measures have been taken so that the simulation is completely safe this time, also she will be the only one taking it so Miss Martian's powers won't be an issue," said Martian Manhunter, the team still looked unconvinced and Nightshade just looked lost and confused.

"What happened to you guys?" she asked taking a bite off a slice of ham, but when no one answered she turned to look at Batman and Martian Manhunter.

"The simulation was taken off course and thanks to Miss Martian's powers they forgot that the events where not real leaving some serious emotional damage, but as Manhunter said, the rest of the team will not be involved in this training. The League believes this is the most efficient way to test Nightshade's abilities and resilience," explained Batman, "and as such, it's an order," he said looking at the girl.

"Sure, sounds interesting," she said, grabbed a jacket and walked with Batman and Martian Manhunter towards the room where the training would take place, an all too familiar room for the other team members that silently followed them. Nightshade laid down and Martian Manhunter placed his hands on her forehead.

"This is going to sting at first," he said and Nightshade slipped into unconsciousness.

Nightshade found herself in an empty training room in the cave, she looked around but couldn't see much since the lights were off. Suddenly they flickered and Nightshade saw Doomsday standing behind her.

"This has got to be a fucking joke," she said and moved out of the way just as Doomsday charged at her, she took out her sword and stabbed him in the back just as he ran past her. The sword went right through and Doomsday fell to the ground, she pulled out her sword and grabbed it tightly waiting to see if he would get up. He did, and smashed the ground in front of Nightshade, the waves sent her flying back. She took out some knives and threw them at him but they shattered when they came in contact with his skin. "Right, you can do that," she said putting away her sword and knives since they wouldn't be that useful anymore.

Doomsday charged at her again but Nightshade kept dodging his hits, after all he could kill her with just a punch, this was the monster that managed to severely injure Superman and one of the biggest threats the Justice League has ever faced. Basically this fight was going to end when Nightshade was dead since Doomsday is immortal. She pulled out her gun and started firing at him and just as she was close enough to shoot him at close range he disappeared. The room shifted and she was now outside on a rainy night with a car turned over on the side of the road and instead of Doomsday stood Ra's al Ghul which distracted her and she tripped over. "What the hell?" asked Nightshade examining the old man.

Outside, the rest of the team, Batman and Martian Manhunter waited for it to be over when Nightshade's face started changing from relaxed to worry in a matter of seconds. "What happened?" asked Superboy when he saw the face she was making.

"Apparently my scenario was changed by someone else, Doomsday is gone and now she is facing….Ra's al Ghul?" wondered Martian Manhunter. The team looked at each other, "Nightshade's emotions are overflowing, she seems to be very troubled by his presence," he continued.

"Well she should be, Ra's al Ghul is part of The Light and also the man who trained her," said Batman, "but who is causing this? And can you get her out?" he asked, Manhunter shook his head and then felt a sharp pain causing him to stagger. The team started to get worried, nothing was supposed to go wrong and now in a matter of minutes Nightshade was trapped in her own mind. They started to look around the room to see if they could find the intruder that was messing with her mind, but their search was interrupted by Martian Manhunter warning them of another shift in the scenario.

Nightshade looked at Ra's al Ghul and then at the car, she recognized it as the car her family was traveling in the night they had died. The scene started to change again and she found herself in a laboratory, there where screams coming from the other side of the wall and Ra's al Ghul had a smile on his face. A shiver ran down her spine, it was a face she hadn't seen in a while and definitely a face she didn't want to see. The girl stood up straight and reached down for her gun and gipped it tightly waiting for him to make the first move.

"I bet you know where we are," he said as the screams kept going, Nightshade nodded, "and I bet you know whose screaming it is," he said walking closer to her. She knew, she had heard them a million times as they came out of her mouth while some crazy doctor was testing to see just how long the deep wounds took to recover. The memories started coming back to her, the pain and the sleepless nights all of it hit her in an instant and then the rage followed. She extended her arm and shot Ra's al Ghul only to have him move away just before the bullet could hit him. Suddenly assassins from his league materialized and charged at Nightshade and that was when she put away her gun and took out her sword.

Just as they came in Nightshade slashed them, she would aim for the limbs cutting an arm here and there. She didn't do that to everyone, she was also kicking them and punching them away as they came, it didn't take much out of her; after all she was really angry. They kept coming and so she started to stab them in the chest making sure they would never get back up. One by one she kept going until she was almost done, for the last ones she used her sword to slash their throats. Something inside her told her to stop, but she just felt so relieved after each cut, it had been so long since the last time she had killed someone. She jumped over the last one and once she was behind him she stabbed him in the chest without even looking. Nightshade stood in front of Ra's al Ghul and pressed her bloody sword against his neck. "Even if this doesn't kill you for real I'd do it just to make myself feel better," she said getting closer to him.

"But you won't," he said and with a quick movement he punched her in the stomach and she felt the air leaving her body forcing her to back away. The place changed again, this time they were standing back in the training room of the cave, only it was full of blood and corpses of the assassins. "You've grown quite sloppy. It seems your time in the team has messed with your abilities," he said and kicked her across the face, the girl went flying against the wall.

"You talk too much," she said and charged at him, but every hit she managed to make was returned twice as hard, Ra's al Ghul took out his sword and started using it against Nightshade, the first cuts healed but slower than usual, and so the next hits stopped healing all together. Ra's al Ghul approached her and hit her in the back of the head with the hilt of the sword, Nightshade resisted the urge to drop to the ground and she used the wall to lean on giving him her back. He took the chance to create a superficial cut along her back that started bleeding heavily as the girl released a painful scream, the blow forced her to the ground.

"Careless," he said, Nightshade got up and threw a punch at him ignoring the sharp pain running down her spine. Ra's al Ghul grabbed her fist and retuned the punch making her stagger towards the wall, "You are truly incapable of thinking things through, aren't you?" said Ra's al Ghul walking around the room bloody sword in hand.

"I don't know what you are talking about," she said breathing heavily slowly leaning against the wall tending to her other wounds.

"Let's see; at nine you wind up at the door of Lex Luthor after having lost your family on a traffic accident, at eleven Luthor found out you where the perfect match for our little project and so the experimenting began. At twelve you became one of the world's greatest assassins with an impressive record. You were destined to be the best, you were made to take down the Justice League. We gave you a shelter, a home, and what's the first thing you do to repay us? You run away from us and get a mediocre magician to bring your family back to life without caring that they would be nothing but talking corpses," he finished, a beaten Nightshade leaned against the wall and used her hand to stand up even though it was slippery form all the blood.

"Luthor's house was the closest to the accident, I never told him to cover up their deaths, I never asked for this! The Light, you…" she said looking at him, "didn't let me go after you found out I was compatible for your experiment. At eleven I lost myself in your training, your hopes and expectations suffocated me. I wanted to please you, I killed a lot of people that didn't deserved to die and let you off because I needed something to believe in, someone to believe in, and I had no one else. When I found out about Faust, I thought I could finally make everything to go back to the way it was before. I did everything I could think off, and Faust was my way out of everything," she finished getting up, she was bleeding heavily and the wounds weren't closing.

"And yet you take the first offer at redemption that is giving to you and that was Huntress," he said, "trying to play the hero, you accepted Batman's offer to join the team because you thought your work with Huntress wasn't enough. The team made you feel needed and even if you had to lie for the rest of your life you would never tell them who you were, but my dear Jade, you can't keep a secret forever….You found yourself being thrown into this life once more, and once it all came crashing down you ran away. Aren't you tired of running? Let's face it, you can't have normal friends much less someone you love. You and I both know just what you are capable of doing, we both know the monster you can become," he said and walked closer to her and from behind him walked out a girl with red hair, and no mask so that she could see her blood red eyes.

She knew it wasn't real, but she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the things Ra's al Ghul was saying and she kept wondering how Martian Manhunter had known that. Did he had the ability to do that? Because if he did she was officially impressed. Nightshade moved away from the wall and looked at the red-headed girl she had come to know as Nightcrawler. "You really had me there for a second," said Nightshade turning to look at Ra's al Ghul as walked past them. Nightcrawler took out a sword and stopped her from going any farther, Nightshade looked at Nightcrawler from the corner of her eye and grabbed her by the collar.

"This is getting out of control," said Martian Manhunter, "it looks like she is in a nightmarish world, I'm starting to think this is the work of Scarecrow," he explained trying not to lose concentration.

"Did Nightshade came in contact with Scarecrow?" asked Zatanna, no one could answer because no one knew what she did on her free time.

"No, but I did," said a loud raspy voice, they turned to look in the direction the voice was coming from and saw Gorilla Grodd staring down at them. "Scarecrow and I made a deal, he would give me some of his fear toxin and I would take Nightshade so we could cash out our reward," he said jumping down, now the team could see him clearer, he was a huge gorilla even taller than Batman and Martian Manhunter and he was wearing a golden helmet that was probably the one allowing him to enter into Nightshade's mind. Batman looked at Manhunter, if he lost focus Nightshade would be trapped inside and it looked like he was already struggling.

"Keep him busy while Martian Manhunter gets Nightshade out," he said to the team who charged at Gorilla Grodd without a second thought.

"Don't have to tell me twice," said Superboy charging towards Gorilla Grodd ready to punch him.

Batman turned to Manhunter, "How is she doing?" he asked. Nightshade had grabbed Nightcrawler and thrown her against the wall, but the red-head got back up again and charged at her with her sword. Nightshade managed to dodge her and then turned around to kick Nightcrawler in the back pushing her farther away. She took out her own sword and ran towards Nightcrawler, ready to stab her in the back and get it all over with when the red-head turned and avoided the sword. She then pulled Nightshade by the collar and she fell; Nightcrawler sat on top of Nightshade and started throwing punches at her.

"Is that all you have?" asked Ra's al Ghul watching the whole scene from the other side of the room, "you know for a moment I thought you had her, but I was wrong," he said moving forward.

"How about you shut up," said Nightshade grabbing Nightcrawler with her legs and pushing her down and off of her. "Either way, why should I listen to you?" she said crawling back up on her feet. She was tired, she had been fighting for too long, first it was Doomsday, then it was Ra's al Ghul, and now Nightcrawler. She could hear Nightcrawler getting up and so she turned around before she could surprise her with anything and then Nightshade pushed her down and both girls ended up on the floor once more.

The tam was fighting Gorilla Grodd keeping him away from Nightshade and Martian Manhunter with the help of Batman. They were using smoke bombs, hitting him with things, Superboy was trying to knock him out but it seemed like Grodd outsmarted their every move. Aqualad tried to electrocute him and it worked, until Grodd managed to move enough to smack him out of his way, seeing this Miss Martian flew over to catch him before he could hit the ground.

"So how much longer do we have to do this?" she asked putting him down.

"Long enough so that Manhunter can get Nightshade out of there," he looked at the helmet, "or we could take the helmet off," he said.

"Yeah right, we can barely touch him," argued Robin that had been thrown their way but managed to mitigate the fall and had landed on his feet. He looked at Nightshade laying on the table and then at the giant gorilla, "but it's worth a shot,"

Nightshade had managed to dodge all of Nightcrawler's attacks, but she now needed help from the wall to keep herself up. The girl wiped the blood from her lip and looked at Nightcrawler, she was ready to fight again when Nightshade saw what looked like the blurry shadow of Martian Manhunter. "Scarecrow," was the only thing she could make out, but once she heard it a smile formed on her lips. Of course it was him, there was no way Manhunter would know all that. Her grip tightened around her sword and she charged at Nightcrawler, but on the way another assassin cut in and she was forced to slay him to get him out of the way; the moment the assassin touched the ground his appearance changed and Nightshade saw Aqualad on the floor with blood coming out of his wound.

"I knew we couldn't trust you," he said looking at her. Another one came in from the other side, it took her a while to notice it was not an assassin, but Zatanna and without thinking Nightshade took out her gun and shoot her, she gave her one last look before taking her last breath. Nightshade was confused, she didn't want to shoot her, her body just moved on its own. Next she pointed at Kid Flash and shot just as he was coming up to her, she did the same with Superboy and Rocket, they all gave her one last look full of hatred and resentment before passing. She suddenly dropped her gun and used her knife to stab Artemis.

"Nightshade you are out of control!" yelled Robin, but she threw another one at him that got stuck in his skull.

"Nightshade? What are you doing?" asked Miss Martian, Nightshade looked at her with a panicked look on her face as her hand started to reach towards the knife.

"You get it? This is what we are meant to do," said Nightcrawler, "we are not supposed to be saving people. We are supposed to killing them! This is who you really are. You don't listen to pleas, you look them in the eye as their life drifts away and you enjoy every single moment. You can't run away from it forever, it will eventually catch up," she said and just as she finished Nightshade took out her knife, lit it on fire and threw it at Miss Martian's face. She stood there feeling herself regain control of her body, she hadn't done it, it was all just a nightmare but it felt so real. Nightshade looked at Nightcrawler and lit her fist on fire.

"This is not who I am, I'm not the monster you say I am. I'm not you anymore and I will prove it!" she said throwing fireballs at Nightcrawler who used her arms to cover her face from them and started firing back. She ran towards Nightcrawler and kicked her in the stomach, then punched her a few more times before Nightcrawler pushed her away and grabbed her by the collar. Lifting her up she kneed her in the stomach and for a finishing blow she stabbed her in the chest. Nightshade felt the air leaving her body and so she fell to the ground.

"I'm sorry Nightshade, but as far as I'm concerned I'll always be stronger than you," she said and took out the gun and shot her in the head.

Nightshade woke up gasping for breath, she sat up on the bed and drew her hands to her face before noticing that the team was all gathered around her. It took her a while to remember where she was and recover from the experience, but when she finally did she examined the room once more. Gorilla Grodd was knocked out in the corner, and Superboy was holding his helmet, they all looked tired and trampled. Martian Manhunter slowly helped her on her feet and she leaned back to use the table for support.

"Are you alright?" asked Rocket placing a hand on her shoulder. Nightshade looked at them for a while before nodding and changing her gaze from the team to Manhunter.

"It was fun I guess," she said and started to walk away. Batman looked at Manhunter and he shook his head and told the team what had happened. Everyone stared at him wide-eyed as he kept talking and at the end no one had anything to say. They were mad, they were all mad at them, after all they had told them not to do it. Batman called Black Canary and she arrived a few minute later clearly furious.

"You said that after the incident with the team there wouldn't be any more of this training sessions, but now you had to go traumatize Nightshade. Wasn't it enough with them?" she asked raising her voice in front of the team. "And before you say anything, of course she agreed to it! She wants to earn the League's trust and regain the team's trust in her, but you took advantage of that," she finished and then realized the team was watching.

"We'll talk with her," said Martian Manhunter.

"No, you have done enough. God knows what string of fear toxin he used," she said and walked away to look for Nightshade. Black Canary found her laying down on the couch covering her face with her arms, she sat down next to her and reach out to shake her to see if she was asleep.

"Don't bother, there is nothing to say," she told Black Canary sitting up on the couch and after a few seconds she stood up and walked out of the cave.

Mount Justice- December 26- 4:32 A.M-

Miss Martian walked into the common room, it still had the Christmas decorations on and it was messy from the party, she walked over to the couch to see Nightshade laying there playing with a small ball, she looks like a cat, thought Miss Martian letting out a sigh of relieve to see Nightshade still coming to the cave and that she was behaving as normal as she could. "What are you doing here so early?" she asked, Nightshade sat up and stared at her for a moment before answering.

"I was called here," she said and kept starring, "what are you doing up so early?" she asked the red head that sat down next to her.

"I couldn't sleep anymore," she answered and then looked at Nightshade, it seemed that she hadn't been sleeping well. There were bags under her eyes and on the table in front of the T.V sat four empty cups of coffee. "Nightshade if you want to talk about what happened I'm sure all of us will help," she said just as Black Canary walked into the room and called Nightshade, she followed without saying a single thing to Miss Martian and locked the door behind her.

"So? Are you still not going to tell me?" she asked, the girl didn't answer, "Nightshade, we've been doing this for days, what can I do to get you to open up?" she asked.

"There's nothing to say," she answered, looking at Black Canary. It was the same thing she said every time and then she would walk out, but this time she stayed. "I knew it wasn't real, I mean there was no way that would be real….I wasn't even aware of what I was doing," she said and then stopped talking. Black Canary and Nightshade sat in silence for half an hour and then Canary realized she wasn't going to say anything else, so she walked out of the room.


	24. New Year

Mount Justice- December 31- 2:56 P.M-

"See? I feel better, don't worry about it," said Nightshade to Black Canary just as the team was coming in from a mission that Nightshade had skipped out on to have her daily session with Black Canary. No one was convinced, she still had bags under her eyes and she was barely talking to any of them outside the missions.

"Nightshade!" yelled Kid Flash and ran towards her, "you're staying for that New Year's party with the League right?" he asked, hoping the answer would be yes since she had also skipped out on the Christmas party and this was the first time they saw her since the incident.

"Sorry, I have to run some errands and I'm not sure I'll make it back in time," she said reaching down to grab a bag from the floor, "but I brought the Christmas presents I owed you," she smiled and handed the bag to Kid Flash and rushed out of the cave. The team watched her leaving and then looked inside the bag to see sloppily wrapped presents with their names written on sharpie. Each one grabbed theirs and opened it to find a small gift, there was a bracelet for Zatanna, a cooking book for Miss Martian and a bag full of snacks for Kid Flash. For Superboy she had gotten a collar for Wolf and had gotten Aqualad a jacket. For Rocket there were a bunch of CDs, for Artemis there was a new pack of strings for her bow and for Robin she had gotten a new pair of sunglasses.

"Guys, I'm very worried about her," said Artemis looking at the team, they all nodded.

"There is nothing we can do if she doesn't want to talk," said Aqualad placing down his gift on the counter, "let's try to give her some space for now,"

Gotham City Bank- 3:34 P.M-

"Next!" yelled a man from behind the counter at the bank. Jade looked up from her book and walked up to the cashier putting the book in her bag and pulling out a thick envelope. "Deposit?" he asked, the girl nodded and handed him the envelope, she leaned over the counter as he counted the money and just as she was about to leave three men in suits and black masks covering their faces burst the door open and started shooting at the armed guards. Jade slowly turned around to see who had done that and sighed when she recognized them as Black Mask's henchmen.

"Oh come on, not today. What could he possibly need more money for?" she murmured under her breath. Jade turned to look at the cashiers, they all had ducked and where hiding under the counters and sirens where heard outside. So either someone activated the silent alarm or someone on the street saw something, she thought looking out the window of the bank, the street had been completely cleared out and the police cars where arriving. One of the henchmen pointed his gun at her and so Jade put her hands in the air and followed him to where the other hostages were, they all had their hands tied behind their backs, including the children. He motioned her to sit down with the others and so she did and her hands were also tied. She sat down next to a woman that was crying so all her makeup was running on her other side was a man that looked as calm as her. Well, at least this turned into a usual hostage situation, she said and looked at the guards on the floor bleeding.

"Listen up everyone, if someone utters as much as a word all of you are dead, if anyone tries to play hero then that person might as well be digging their own grave," said one of them and then he and another one moved towards the back of the room to where the vault was. Jade looked around, there were at least twenty people in the room plus the three robbers, outside the police had formed a line and she recognized Commissioner Gordon in the front with a megaphone saying the usual things cops say to convince the robbers to let the hostages go. That wasn't going to work with them, they were after all Black Mask's henchmen for a reason. Jade discreetly started to look for her comm keeping an eye on the other robber, she could take him, sneak from behind and disarm him before knocking him out and then let the hostages out but that would risk her secret identity.

"What are you doing?" asked the man sitting next to her, "they'll kill us if they see you" he whispered, Jade finished putting her earpiece on and then looked at him. Apparently he wasn't as calm as she had thought, the man was sweating uncontrollably and he had a panicked look on his face. She ignored him and drew her knees to her face and started calling Aqualad.

"_**There's a robbery going down at Gotham's bank,"**_ she whispered.

"_**Are you available to take care of it?" **_asked Aqualad.

"_**I would if I could, but unfortunately I'm one of the Hostages," **_she said lifting her face to look at the robber, he was distracted with the things Gordon was saying, _**"If you could send Miss Martian in camouflage, that would be great. There are three and all of them are heavily armed. Two of them are on the vault and the other one is keeping guard," **_she finished talking and shut off the transmission just as the robber came their way, but he walked past them.

Back on the cave the team was still resting from their last mission when jade's call came in. "Nightshade's in the middle of a bank robbery," said Aqualad, the team looked up from what they were doing, "and she's one of the hostages," he finished explaining.

"Well, then why doesn't she do anything?" asked Kid Flash, the others glared at him.

"She can't, if she is in civilian clothes then she risk her identity and there's probably too many people inside with her," said Robin, "Which bank is it?"

"Oh, right," said Kid Flash pretending he already knew the answer which just made him feel more awkward.

"Gotham's" said Aqualad, "she said to send Miss Martian in camouflage and gave me the location of the three robbers. She also said they were heavily armed, but never gave the number of hostages," Aqualad informed them as Robin downloaded the blueprints of the bank.

"So? What are we waiting for?" asked Superboy getting up from the couch and the team followed.

In the bank the tension had grown stronger, people were getting desperate. Jade looked around, there where small kids that didn't understand the situation, and the older ones that stayed close to their parents. There was one particular kid that was crying at the top of his lungs and was getting on everyone's nerves. Jade turned to face him and started making weird faces at him, the kid started to calm down a little and finally stopped crying and started laughing getting the robber's attention.

"Hey!" he yelled and grabbed Jade by the arm and pulled her close aiming his gun at her, "what do you think you are doing?" he asked, the kid started crying again.

"Nothing. Nothing. Relax, I was just trying to keep him from crying," She explained looking at him, "why don't you let the children and the injured guards out. The kids are exhausted and scared and the guards need medical attention; and the screaming, it probably have been getting on your nerves too," she said, the robber let go of her and pushed her back down. He looked back at the door that lead to the vault and then at the front door, he took the children away from their parents and told the guards to walk them out, they were all pushed towards the front door and they rushed out. Now without the kids there were only fifteen people left in the room. Silence filled the space except for the occasional sobbing coming from the woman next to Jade. The robber leaned down to grab Jade's bag when his partners walked back into the room, one of them looked out the window to see that the police had been joined by the team.

"Hey! What are the superheroes doing here?" he asked looking back at his partners. Jade looked at the window and saw them all but Miss Martian and a smile formed on her lips. The man next to her noticed and for some reason he started to feel a lot calmer. Soon after she felt a tuck on her shirt and could make out a blurry presence in front of her, but before she could say anything the phone rang. The robbers hesitated but eventually one of them picked up the phone.

"Why don't you let the hostages go?" asked Gordon on the other end of the line, "you have the money already, so let them out and you might walk out of there in one piece," he said.

"Is this a joke? They are the only ones keeping those freaks outside, there is no way we will give them up," answered the robber, "we need a reassurance, we want to know that we will walk out of here with the money and the hostages will be yours," he said. Gordon handed the phone to Aqualad and he took it away so that Gordon couldn't hear him.

"The only reassurance you need is Jade Allen, she is the daughter of a rich family and her father would do anything to get her out of a dangerous situation," he said, Kid Flash hit him in the arm as that was the last name of The Flash "so how about you let the other hostages go and we'll back out,"

The robber thought about it for a while and then turned back to the phone, "fine, but I want the police out of here too, and don't try anything stupid or the girl is dead," he said and hung up. The police started backing away and the team hid on the back of the bank where they couldn't see them. When they saw that everything was clear the robbers walked up to the crowd. "Jade Allen where is she?" he asked, they all looked at each other and then Jade stood up. They were giving her an opportunity to be alone with them, and that was all she needed.

"Oh, I was hoping it would be you," another one said eyeing her up and down, she got irritated but didn't show it. Jade felt Miss Martian standing next to her, the robbers walked the hostages to the entrance and let them walk away. "It's your lucky day Miss Allen, you should have told us you were a rich brat," he said walking closer to her.

"You know, the police is starting to get sloppy. Maybe it's because it's New Year's Eve and they want to be home. Even the so called heroes walked out on you, bad luck kid. Now get daddy on the phone," the other one said throwing her a cellphone. Jade eyed it and showed them her hands, another robber walked up to her and started untying her hands, once the rope was lose enough she grabbed him by the collar and kneed him in the stomach. As she pulled her leg back she made sure to smash the cellphone with the heel of her boots; quickly she reached down for her bag and pulled out her mask and belt.

"What's going on?" one of them asked getting ready to shoot her, but his gun was snatched away from him, "What the hell?" he asked and then Miss Martian appeared.

"Guys, it's your lucky day," said Jade and threw a kick at them. Miss Martian started using her telepathy to disarm them and fight them at the same time, she threw a couple of punches and then used her powers to throw one of them against the wall, but then she got hit in the back of the head which distracted Jade and she was caught by the one of the robbers who pointed his gun at her face. The gun, mixed with the hit Miss Martian had just received reminded Jade of when Nightcrawler shot her so she just froze as the memory replayed in her mind, but before he could pull the trigger Miss Martian snatched the gun away with her powers and Jade came back to reality in time to punch the robber in the face. She looked to see that Miss Martian had taken care of the other two and a feeling of uselessness filled her.

"What was that?" she asked walking out with Jade, she didn't answer; she didn't know how to explain it, her arms and legs just wouldn't move. Miss Martian walked in front of Jade and that was why she didn't hear what one of the robbers said.

"We know who you are, and when I get out I'll make sure to tell everyone I know about it," he said, "I'm sure Black Mask would be interested," he finished talking looking at Jade. She leaned down and grabbed his head.

"Sorry, fake name," she said and pulled out her gun, "either way, I don't think you'll talk," she said, her hand on the trigger, something inside her was telling her to pull the trigger, the robber was pleading for his life when Robin popped his head in.

"Nightshade!" he yelled and she snapped out of it. Jade kicked him across the face knocking him out and staggered out of the room to find the team placing the money back in the vault, she was holding onto the wall trying not to lose her balance. She felt like throwing up as another memory crossed her mind; Robin kept eyeing her, for a moment there he could have sworn he saw her with red hair instead of her usual brown. But dismissed it when he couldn't find any explanation other than a trick of the light. Kid Flash ran into the other room and returned with one of the masks in his hand.

"Souvenir," he explained himself "do you think we can still make it to the party?" asked Kid Flash, Jade looked down at her phone to see it was only half past nine, the screen also showed a message from Lance which Robin caught a glimpse of.

"You know, if we hurry I bet we can make it back in an hour and still have plenty of time to change before midnight," she said putting her phone away ignoring the message. The team looked at her, "yes, I'm going, but only for a while. I need to be back early," she said and they all walked out of the bank leaving behind the three men for the police to pick up.

Mount Justice- 10:26 P.M-

The team arrived to the cave, they didn't bother changing; it would have taken too long. Inside the cave was part of the Justice League chatting with each other, they greeted them and the team casually joined their conversations. Jade walked over to Huntress only to be stopped by Robin who pulled her aside, and they walked over to somewhere quieter. "Are you alright?" he asked with a concerned look on his face, "I mean, I know we haven't talked much since we broke up, but I'm still worried about you," he said.

"I'm fine, I mean I still get some flashbacks every once in a while, but other than that everything is fine," she said with a smile, Robin felt a knot on his stomach.

"Jade, this is exactly why I broke up with you. You keep everything bottled up and then make people worry,"

"Well excuse me for not wanting to talk about one of the most traumatic experiences in my life. I'm just not ready to talk about it, I'm not even sure about what happened," she said, her voice was shaking and Robin immediately regretted his decision. "Anyway, why do you care? You broke up with me for a stupid reason and even thought I told you I liked you, you still didn't give a shit, so stay out of my business," she said ready to leave, but Robin grabbed her.

"You might not be my girlfriend anymore, but you're my teammate and I—," he started but his phone started ringing, "sorry I have to take this…Babs, what's up?" he said bringing the phone to his ear. Jade stood there and waited a while until she actually started to feel jealous and so before he could finish the call she silently walked away from him and walked towards Rocket.

"Hey, I have to go, so tell everyone I said happy New Year," she said, Rocket grabbed her by the arm and examined her face for a moment.

"I'm here if you want to talk about it, okay? Anything. Even if it is about the stupidest thing in the world," she told her, Jade nodded and gave her the first real smile she had given in a while. Rocket pulled her in for a hug, "Happy New Year," she said and let her go, Robin showed up after a while looking for Jade.

"Have you seen Jade? We were talking and then I got a call from Barbara and when I hung up she was gone," he asked, Rocket glared at him, "What?"

"So it was you," she said, "Jade left, she seemed upset about something. Is Barbara your new girlfriend?" she asked, Robin flinched before answering.

"No, well we did have something going on before, but…." he said, "it wouldn't be a problem, I'm already over Jade so there's nothing wrong in looking for a new girlfriend," he finished talking and then looked at the disapproving face she was giving him.

"Is that what you tell yourself? I don't buy it, you are so not over her. Look Robin, Jade is a great girl and just because you don't understand her right now it doesn't mean you can't. If you don't make up your mind you're going to lose her," she said and walked away. Robin walked the other way and looked at his phone, it was already eleven fifty five. He punched the wall next to him, took a deep breath and walked out of the room. He didn't feel like having a good time after what Rocket had told him.

Gotham City- 11:55 P.M-

Jade had just gotten home, but instead of going into her apartment she walked over to Lance's door and knocked softly in case they were already asleep. She placed her head against the door and after a while Lance opened it making Jade fall over into his arms. She stayed there and let him hug her, he pulled her into the apartment and took her over to the couch. She sat down and waited for Lance to bring her a glass of water and after he did he sat down next to her in complete silence. He didn't ask her what was wrong, he already knew what it was about. Ever since their breakup Jade had been relying on Lance to make her feel better, but this time he had nothing to say. His mind was busy trying to figure out how to rip Robin's head off. Jade put the water down on the table and turned to look at Lance, he looked at her for a second and the next thing he knew was that Jade was kissing him. Her mind went blank, there were no more flashbacks, no more thoughts about Robin, everything was gone and for a moment she was relieved.

He started to kiss her back, he stuck his tongue on her mouth and was a little surprised to see that her tongue did the same. Jade then lifted his shirt and started running her cold hands against his skin, he knew where this was going, but he didn't want to stop her so he grabbed her and took her into his room locking the door behind him. There Jade finished taking his shirt off, and the two of them went back to kissing. Lance's hand moved from her face to the bottom of her shirt and started pulling it up until it came off, then he slowly unclipped her bra and tossed it on the floor. He ran his hand through her back, it was a scarred back, full of bullet wounds. He pulled her closer and sat on the bed, Jade adjusted herself on top of him and reached down his pants, he did the same and soon they were both completely naked.

He then drew his hand to her breast and started touching it gently while moving his lips towards her neck. Lance pushed her down on the bed and ran his hand through her body and then thrust a finger inside her, she let out a soft moan probably aware that Skye was in the room across the hall. Lance kept going, then he thrust another finger which made her moan a little harder. After a while of this he drove his tongue inside and Jade grabbed his soft, long hair pulling him closer, finally he got up, took a condom from the drawer and pounded into her. Jade kept moaning softly as his thrusts got harder, he turned her around and kept going, he watched her holding onto the sheets trying to muffle the sounds. Jade turned around and threw him on the bed and slowly sat on top of him, her hips going up and down, Lance placed his hands on them and followed their rhythm, she leaned down and started kissing him, it was even more passionate that before. She instinctively bit his lip and pulled making him moan, after some time he looked up at her face. He had already lost count of how many times they had done it.

Jade dropped on top of him and after a few minutes they got into the bed and just when he was about to ask her what had happened she had fallen asleep, so he just pulled her close and drifted off. They kept having sex for the next couple of days until Lance finally dared to ask what was going on. "Why is everyone assuming there's something wrong?" she asked putting her shirt back on after coming out of the shower.

"Because I know you, and even though I'm aware your sex drive can get pretty high sometimes, this had never happened before. So? What did he do and how do I find him?" he asked. It wasn't actually the first time they had slept together, the first one was a year ago before Jade joined the team, but that wasn't the issue right now, she simply was avoiding it and he wanted to know. "Did he get a new girlfriend?" he asked, Jade turned to look at him. So that was it? He thought as she looked away from him.

"I still like him," she said "and I have no idea how he makes it look so easy. I mean it's only been a month since we broke up and now he's already moved on and I'm still stuck here like an idiot. It's as if I'm still waiting for something else to happen, for him to come and tell me that we could still make it work. Aside from that I'm still afraid of what I saw last time, it felt so freakishly real. I can't get it off my head, she keeps coming back," she said wrapping her arms around herself and sitting on the edge of the bed. Lance crawled on the bed towards her and hugged her from behind, kissing her neck. Again the feeling of uneasiness faded and she felt comfortable, but it was only temporary and she knew that.

"Hey, you have me okay? You know I've liked you for the longest time and I might not be the best option, but just give me a chance okay? And about the other thing, just talk with Black Canary, I'm sure she will help you," he said and gave her a kiss. Jade untangled herself from him and walked up to the door.

"I'll think about it," she said.

"About me or about talking with Black Canary?" he asked.

"Both," and she walked out of the room. As soon as she left their apartment a smile formed on her face.


	25. Breakdown

Hope you like it, feedback is appreciated.

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><p>Mount Justice- January 23- 12:15 P.M-<p>

Rocket walked into the common room where Kid Flash and Robin were talking while Miss Martian baked something new and Zatanna said she was 'helping' just by standing on the side watching, occasionally she would use magic to really help her out, but then she would go back to reading. Rocket looked around, no sign of Artemis or Nightshade anywhere.

"Hey, where are the others?" she asked, Kid Flash turned to look at her.

"Well, Aqualad is in the training room, Superboy and Wolf are somewhere else with Sphere, and I have no idea where Nightshade and Artemis are. I mean they were here a few minutes ago….." he said looking down at his phone. "Why?" he asked putting it aside on the table.

"Well I was supposed to meet them here for lunch, but seems like they bailed on me," she said and then the boy's eyes just turned to look at her, they looked shocked and honestly a bit confused. "Yes, we hang out with Nightshade because she is our friend. Is that hard to believe?" she asked and then her phone rang, it was a message from Nightshade saying that they would meet in downtown Gotham. "Never mind, I know where they are. You girls coming?" she said and started to walk away.

"You mean we can get real food? Sure!" yelled Zatanna from the kitchen and changed using her magic, "sorry Megan, what you were cooking looked delicious an all, but I really want to go out," she was followed by Miss Martian.

"Hey! That's mean, guys remember there's something in the oven!" she yelled as they all walked out of the cave. Robin and Kid Flash looked at each other wondering what had happened and then jut brushed it off. Robin looked down at his phone, he had a message from Barbara but he didn't feel like talking, actually he felt like taking a long nap and forget about everything that happened.

Gotham City- 12:45 P.M-

"You what?!" Yelled Rocket after Nightshade had just told them about what happened with Lance. She tried to cover Rocket's mouth and then drew her finger to her mouth, "Oh my god! I can't believe this," she muffled.

"Could you be any louder?" asked Nightshade letting go of her and then burring her face in her hands. The girls were a little shocked, they didn't really know what to say. "It was on impulse, and then I just couldn't stop myself….."

"Okay stop right there," said Artemis, "what about Robin? I thought you still liked him?" she asked, Nightshade slammed her head against the table.

"I do, I still like him," she said, "god, I'm the worst person in the planet,"

"I actually think it's a good thing," said Zatanna, the other girls looked at her wide-eyed as if telling her to stop talking, "no, really. I just don't think Robin is the right person for you right now, I mean before all you did was fight. Maybe it's better this way," she finished and took a sip off her juice. Nightshade looked up at Zatanna, she was right, she was absolutely right, the other girls also nodded in agreement.

"Okay! That's it, I'm not going to let this get to me!" she declared the girls laughed and kept chatting for a few more hours.

"Now, about that training session," Miss Martian started, the table went silent and they all were looking at Nightshade. "Would you tell us what happened?" she asked, Nightshade started remembering what had happened as she took a sip of her coffee, the memories had been imprinted in her mind and wouldn't go away.

"Sorry, Not quite there yet," she said, putting some money on the table.

"Jade" said Rocket stopping her, "thank you, "she said, she was glad Nightshade had at least told them something, even if it had nothing to do with what they actually wanted to hear about, but she was talking. Nightshade smiled and then left in the direction of the orphanage. She parked her bike in front of the old brick building when she saw a police car on the other side of the street. She walked inside and was greeted by two worried women and a police officer taking the statement.

"What is going on?" one of the women approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Jade!" she said, "I'm so glad you're here. It's terrible, thirty out of the fifty kids that were living here have gone missing. We would have told you earlier, but the police said we had to wait another twenty-four hours before reporting them," she said, the woman looked genuinely worried, Nightshade glared at the officer before turning back to her, "the only thing they left was this teddy bear, they were on each one of the kid's beds," she showed it to her and Nightshade took it and examined it, but she hadn't seen it before.

"Wait, why were you going to call me? Where is Danny?" she asked, the two women looked at each other and before they could answer Nightshade rushed out the door and onto the street.

"Hey! That's evidence!" the cop yelled after her. Shit, she thought as she pulled out her phone and looked through her contacts until she found the number she was looking for and started dialing, although she hesitated for a minute.

"_**Robin, I need you to trace a number for me. I'll explain when I get to the cave. Tell Batman to call a meeting,"**_ she said and hopped on the bike and revved up the street.

On the other side of the line Robin had gone over his surprise and started typing the number on his computer, while it looked for the location he started calling Batman. _**"Nightshade? Is everything alright?"**_ he kept asking, but the girl hung up on him. Batman arrived a few minutes later accompanied by no one other than Batgirl. Robin walked up to them and told him everything Nightshade had said and explained that he was still trying to trace the location. Soon the others girls walked in and stopped cold when they saw Batgirl, but then they walked closer to greet her. They were in the middle of the conversation when Batgirl started sniffing something.

"Do I smell burnt food?" asked Batgirl, just as Aqualad, Superboy, Wolf and Sphere joined them. Kid Flash and Robin rushed over to the oven and opened it to release a cloud of smoke.

"Noo!" yelled Miss Martian as she hovered over to them, "I really can't leave you guys alone with anything. I told you there was food in the oven, what where you doing?" she said taking the burnt food out and placing it on the counter. The portal announced Nightshade, Batman looked up to see the girl in full suit rushing over to them. The moment she walked past Wolf he started growling at her.

"Not now big ball of fur," she said ignoring the smell of burnt food and the presence of Batgirl; Wolf backed down and sat next to Superboy. Her mind was full of thoughts involving Danny and the Light. Robin walked over to them, he still hadn't found the location and Nightshade was getting impatient.

"What is this about?" asked Batman, "I have another mission for the team, so if this is worth it, we'll have to divide them," he said, Nightshade lifted her eyes from the screen.

"Thirty kids from one of Gotham's orphanages went missing two days ago and they are probably not the only ones. The caretakers found teddy bears on their beds," she said handing him the one she took, Batman gave her a look and she continued, "I know one of the kids that's missing, I gave her my old phone with a tracking device inside and if we can find it, we can probably find her and the other kids of course. Now, you tell me if it's worth it," she finished and went back to looking at the screen. Batgirl let out a small giggle that was silenced by Batman's glare. Robin looked at Nightshade, if he remembered correctly that kid was Danny, so of course she was agitated. Finally after a few minutes they found the location, it was somewhere in the woods, about an hour away from where they were, though the snow made it hard for them to actually reach that place in the usual amount of time.

"Zatanna, Miss Martian, Kid Flash, Superboy and Rocket. You are coming with me," he said and then looked at the others. "Aqualad, as always you are in charge. Take Batgirl with you, she and Robin know who this is, they'll be more useful for you," he said and then took off with the others. The rest started getting their things ready to leave, Batgirl who was the only one ready, stood there watching them. Aqualad was the first one to be ready, followed by Artemis. Robin and Nightshade had most of their things scattered across the room so they had been throwing each other's things for the last couple of minutes until they were fully equipped.

"Why do you have to be so messy?" he asked putting on his belt.

"You're asking me? Why the fuck were all your things on the other side of the room? You call that tidy?" she answered, Batgirl raised an eyebrow, she was surprised at how easy it was for them to identify each other's things and how quick they were to insult each other. She then noticed the black stick hanging on Nightshade's hip next to her guns and as the girl walked past her Batgirl took it out.

"What's up with this thing?" she asked examining it, Nightshade turned around a little frustrated, and when she finally looked at Batgirl she said, "Hi, I don't think we have met," she said. Nightshade snatched the stick and placed it back where it belonged.

"We have, you're Barbara Gordon, I'm Jade Collins," she said, Batgirl's eyes widened for a second, "better known as Nightshade, but I think neither Batman, nor Robin told you about me," she said and walked away getting on her bike. "So? Who is this asshole?" she asked putting her helmet on as the others got on a bike.

"Dollmaker," answered Robin, "he is a highly disturbed person, the last time he showed up he tried to turn batman into one of his dolls, and it was not pretty. My guess is he took the kids to form an army of dolls, but I have no idea why he would do something like that," he said placing his own helmet on. Batgirl looked at Nightshade, she looked like a completely different person, but she was more curious to know why she knew her name. The group left and they arrived to the edge of the woods in less than an hour, from that point on they had to travel by foot since the snow made it impossible for them to go with their bikes.

Robin showed them where to go and they followed him to an abandoned warehouse sitting in the middle of an open space. The warehouse was covered in snow, the door looked like it hadn't been opened recently, snow had piled up in front and the only footprints were theirs. Aqualad peeked inside from one of the windows, but it looked empty. He turned around and looked at Robin.

"Are you sure this is the place?" he asked, Robin nodded. "Well it doesn't look like there is anyone inside, maybe she dropped her phone here while they were taking her away," he said and just as he finished talking, the window behind him shattered and a kid jumped right through it taking Aqualad down. It was hard to tell if it was a boy or a girl, its face was completely reconstructed into something gruesome and it had different skin color patches all over its body. Aqualad kicked it off and stood up, the kid had an electric saw instead of its right hand. Artemis took out an arrow and got ready to shoot when Aqualad stopped her.

"Save it for later, I have a feeling we'll need more," he said and took out his water-bearers and formed swords sucking the water from the snow and charged at the kid. He fend off the kid's attacks with his swords and managed to push it away from them so that Nightshade could use her powers to burn off the electric saw, and finally Robin kicked it into unconsciousness. Batgirl and Artemis where the first ones to jump into the building through the window, they looked around and found some small metal boxes stacked up against the wall, it took them a while to find out they weren't boxes but small, child size jails.

The other three got into the building, and as they did they heard scratching coming from the jails and so each one of them rushed to try and open them, but inside they found that some of the kids had already been modified and where thrusting against the doors trying to attack them. Nightshade moved around the room looking into each one of the cells but she couldn't find Danny. She started to get more frantic by the minute, she saw unconscious kids, deformed kids and more of those hybrid type weapons.

"Guys, this is incredibly disturbing," said Artemis as her eyes landed on one of the kids that had his skull cracked open and blood was pouring out onto the cell under him. The kid on the bottom cell walked up to the door, stuck his tongue out and started drinking it. It looked like the first kid had banged his head against the bars so hard he fractured his head and the other kid looked hungry and thirsty. "Just what is this psycho doing with them?" she wondered out loud.

"Well, we found the kids, but where is The Dollmaker?" asked Batgirl looking around the room, there was nowhere he could hide. The room was an open space, no doors to be seen and nothing blocking their view. Robin examined one of the walls that had a series of buttons lined up, he figured some of them opened the gates. He was in the middle of thinking it through when they heard a loud cry coming from behind the wall and that was when Aqualad punched a hole through it. There seemed to be some sort of stairs that led to the basement, Nightshade started going down the stairs first followed by Aqualad and Robin who grabbed her arm before she could go any further. That was when they heard the sound of the cages opening and the kids launched themselves at the group.

"Go!" yelled Batgirl, "We'll keep them here," she said and then covered the hole in the wall with her body allowing the other three to rush down the stairs. Once in the basement Robin pulled Nightshade to the ground and the group hid in the shadows watching the Dollmaker discard another body, he threw it in their direction and Nightshade leaned closer to see if it was Danny….It wasn't. He was a man with a disfigured face and just like the other kids, there were different skin patches making up his face, and his eyes where almost like those of a doll. The room seemed to match him perfectly, it was lit up mainly by a single lamp hanging over the operating table next to him, and there where rotting corpses laying around. He walked up to another cage and that was when they saw Danny being taken out. Nightshade wanted to move but Robin stopped her and pointed at the gun in his hip.

"It's not his style, but he won't hesitate to shot you or Danny," he whispered, "and I can't have that again," he continued and eyed Nightshade, she wasn't looking at him, she was looking at Danny. For a moment he felt sort of embarrassed but it went away when she answered.

"How sweet," she said sarcastically and moved away from them, she slowly made her way towards the Dollmaker from behind and once she was close enough she disarmed him and pulled him away from the table. The other two stepped into the room and took a closer look at the cages, most of the children where unconscious and untouched, but there were a couple of kids that had survived the process and were eager to come out.

"What are you doing?" he asked, partially confused, his voice came out but his mouth never moved; it was appalling to watch.

"I was about to ask the same thing," said Aqualad stepping in front of the other two.

"I'm saving this children, without me they are all alone in the world. I'm giving them the tools to survive, I'm giving them a better life," he said and then a woman that seemed to be wearing some sort of mask and was dressed in a nurse outfit opened some of the cages, "in return they protect me, they are my family!" he finished and the kids started attacking them.

Upstairs Artemis had taken out her arrow and had started shooting them, they had different weapons attached to their limbs or replacing them. The kids where so disfigured it was hard to tell them apart, they all followed the same pattern and they wouldn't listen to what anyone other than the Dollmaker said. Their minds where gone and they were now mere puppets.

Batgirl was kicking them away knocking them out one by one, being careful not to hurt them too much, she was working back to back with Artemis who was running out of arrows. Artemis was aiming at the weapons to make them useless and when she shot her last arrow she started using her hands. Batgirl looked at the hole in the wall, actually Batman had told her about Nightshade, he had told her how she was trained by The Light and how she had tried to cover up her past from the team, and she worried about them.

Nightshade took out her knives and started aiming at the weapons trying not to harm them…much. She was standing next to the operating table letting Danny watch her closely. Robin had used up his birdarangs, but he had taken most of them out. Aqualad put away his water-bearers and was using his fists to take care of the nurse that was also one of them, the nurse took of her mask to reveal a horrid face just as deformed as the others except her mouth was ripped wide open, it went from cheek to cheek. Aqualad fought her avoiding her kicks and staying away from her face and her sharp teeth. Once they were done Nightshade walked right up to the Dollmaker swinging the black stick in her hand, then with the push of a button a sword came out. She put the sword on his neck and Aqualad walked over to them.

"These are all the kids you kidnapped?" he asked, Dollmaker stayed quiet, Nightshade pushed the sword a bit more, "I'll ask just one more time," he said. Dollmaker looked at them and leaned forward allowing Nightshade's sword to form a small cut in his throat. She hesitated, she could take the sword away and just knock him out or slit his throat and get it over with—she decided to move away from him and kicked him in the head. The group left him there and took the other kids, including Danny, upstairs where they saw the girls taking down their last little monster.

"So? What are we going to do with the ones that he operated on?" asked Artemis in between pants.

"We'll see if there's a special facility that could help them recover," said Robin looking through a list of places on his computer.

"You can stop looking, it's useless. They are kids with zero chance of recovery," said Nightshade. Robin looked at them, she might be right he thought. How do you live on with something like that? He wondered then his eyes just followed Nightshade as the same thought popped into his mind, how did you do it. The tam heard a loud noise and turned around to see the Dollmaker aiming his gun at them. He swung it around not knowing who to point it at until he saw the face Nightshade was making, it was a desperate expression, so without a second thought he shot at her. Nightshade braced herself for the hit when she saw Aqualad jumping in front of the bullet covering for her.

Nightshade didn't move, she couldn't, just like the last time she couldn't move her legs as the flashbacks filled her mind. Do something, she thought but her body wouldn't react. Aqualad was bleeding down at her feet and she couldn't do anything. The others moved towards him to help and once they turned around they found that Dollmaker had taken advantage of the situation and was now gone. Nightshade looked down at him, it was just like what had happened in that nightmare.

"Hey! What's your problem? He covered for you, at least do something," said Batgirl pushing Nightshade, "now Dollmaker's gone and someone's injured. You better hope that bullet didn't hit any vital organs," she kept yelling. Nightshade just stared blankly at her, she really didn't have anything to say.

"Batgirl, lay off!" yelled Robin, she was a little bit surprised as was Nightshade, "We need to get Aqualad back to the cave and fast," he said blocking the blood with his hands. Batgirl, Artemis and Robin walked out while Nightshade was told to take the kids out of the cages. She started getting them out and getting them ready for when the police arrived. She turned to look at Danny, the girl had an amazed expression on her face.

"That was awesome," she said as Nightshade put her on the ground, "you were awesome," she kept talking walking behind her as she let the other kids out. "Jade would have loved to see this," she explained, Nightshade crouched, reached into the girls pocket and pulled out the phone.

"Never leave this behind okay? This thing is what got us here," she said returning the phone to her and gave her a half smile.

"Are you alright?" asked Danny, Nightshade looked at her for a bit longer and then stood up and messed up the kid's hair. She saw the long line of police officers coming from the woods and so she sneaked out the broken window and ran all the way to the edge where she had left her bike. Once she got there she found Batgirl waiting.

"Why didn't you leave with the others?" she asked getting on the bike, Batgirl examined her for a minute and then answered.

"I wanted to apologize, they told me about the scarecrow thing. It must be hard," she said, getting on her bike. Nightshade didn't answer, she just looked at Batgirl with an exhausted look. "I also wanted to ask you if you were alright with the whole Robin thing?" she asked.

"What whole Robin thing?" asked Nightshade even though she knew exactly what she meant.

"Well, we both have history, something that happened a couple of years ago at one of his birthday parties, but I just wanted to let you know that nothing will happen between us for now so…." She said before Nightshade cut her off.

"Why not? You don't have to worry about me, I barely know you and I'm probably just the girl that got in the way of you two, so do whatever you want," she said and drove away, with Batgirl close behind. She was fed up with the whole thing and honestly she didn't want to hear another word about it.

Mount Justice- 5:34 P.M-

Nightshade and Batgirl walked into the cave, the others weren't back yet and Artemis and Robin where nowhere to be seen. The girls made their way to the infirmary where Aqualad had been treated by Red Tornado, and he was now resting on the bed with Artemis and Robin standing on the side. Nightshade made her way towards the bed, Aqualad opened his eyes and gave her a faint smile which she returned. The others walked out of the room and left them alone locking the door behind them.

"Sorry you had to take a bullet for me," she said, Aqualad gave her a painful laugh.

"Sorry you had to go through that," he said talking about the training session. Nightshade looked down and then Aqualad felt a cold drop fall in his hand, she was crying. He grabbed her hand and kept quiet as Nightshade silently cried next to him.

"I'm really sorry, I don't know what happened. I just keep reliving it, I haven't slept well in the past few days and all I see is her face just before she pulled the trigger," she bawled. Aqualad listened to her talk for a few minutes and when she had finally calmed down he spoke.

"When that happened to us, Black Canary was there to listen and give us some advice," he said, "I believe it would be better to talk to her and then, if you're ready, talk it out with the team," he explained calmly. Nightshade nodded and wiped her face with her sleeve, she got up and walked out the door. It looked like she had been in there long enough for the others to return and they were all gathered outside the infirmary, Nightshade hid her face from them and walked away looking for Black Canary, but they all noticed that she had cried. Batman watched her leaving just as Robin nudged him on the side.

"So? How long do you think it will take her?" he asked, Batman looked at him.

"That fear toxin really did a number on her, even if she won't admit it. What happened today will happen again until Nightshade is fully recovered. We identified the string as one of the strongest fear toxin, so my guess is a couple of months," he explained, "but now that she finally broke down it will probably be less than that. What she needs right now is support from her teammates," he said looking at him, Robin gulped.

"And what about the reward, do you plan on telling her?" he asked, Batman stayed quiet for a while.

"No, and neither will you, not until I look into it," he said and walked into the infirmary. Robin looked in the direction she had left, and Kid Flash walked up to him.

"Bro, you have the worst timing," he said, "there's only so much a person can take before reaching rock bottom, but Nightshade really overdid it," he told him. He knew that, of course he knew that and seeing her like that really hurt him. He started missing the days when she would just smile at every little stupid thing he did, the days when she wouldn't have a hurt look in her face every time she looked at him. Nightshade made her way towards the room where Black Canary always talked with her and she was there waiting for her, so she stepped inside and locked the door behind her.

Nightshade kept her head low and slowly she walked towards the chair that was across from Black Canary but she didn't sit down. "I believe you have something to tell me about what happened today," she said in a soft, calming voice as she watched the frail looking girl finally taking a seat. She had her head down and her body was completely stiff, her legs where closed and she was clutching her fists. It was the first time Black Canary had seen her like that, and it was probably the first time she had felt that way in a long time. "Martian Manhunter told me about the whole training session, but if I remember correctly, the fear toxin brings out your worst fear. What are you exactly afraid of? Is it Ra's al Ghul, the Light?" she asked, Nightshade looked up with her watery eyes, Black Canary handed her a box of tissues but she didn't take it.

"I wish," she said.

"Then what is it? I'm sure I can help you get over it," she said leaning forward placing her elbows on her knees.

"You don't get, I'm afraid of Nightcrawler. I'm afraid of myself, how can I possibly get over that?" she raised her voice, "I keep thinking, what if one day I just snap? I have no idea what's my limit….I mean her limit. The Light wanted a weapon and they got it, maybe it's just a matter of time before I…" she was cut off by Black Canary.

"Nightshade, you said I don't get it, then help me understand just what happened to you," she told the girl as she leaned in to match her eyes. Nightshade stayed quiet for a few minutes, she was trying to decide whether to tell her or not, but in the end she realized Black Canary wasn't leaving without knowing everything.

"I was genetically modified to become a weapon with the sole purpose of destroying the Justice League," she said and took a deep breath, "I was what they called project Nightcrawler. They trained me and gave me powers and a healing factor; the modifications were supposed to continue, but I ran away before they could finish. As Nightcrawler I killed so, so many people and league members I can't even remember all of them and the worst part is that I didn't feel anything back then. I was a full-fledged psychopath and I liked it, but just as fast I changed sides….I'm afraid it's going to happen again and if it does then," she was interrupted by Black Canary again.

"The team and the League will be there to help you," she said, "I'm sure that together we can find a solution. Jade you are not that person anymore and you have shown that with all the work you have done. That time with Faust you stood by Batman's side, you have been really helpful for Huntress and I'm sure the team thinks of you as a friend they can trust. They care about you, we all do and nothing is going to change that," Nightshade looked at her for a while, she looked so calm and composed even after what she had told her it gave her a sense of reassurance and suddenly it was as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. There was at least one person that didn't mind who she was, a person that was only interested in who she could be as a hero.

"Thanks, I really needed this," she said and stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked jumping up from her chair.

"Ah, to tell the truth," she said as she stretched her arms and walked out of the room. Nightshade took a deep breath and turned to look at the team waiting outside the room, "I have something I want to tell you, but since Aqualad is in the infirmary then I thought we could do it there," she said. They looked at her and nodded. They were glad Nightshade was ready to talk to them and deal with the whole thing once and for all. Robin was the last one to go, his chest was feeling a bit heavy so he took his time catching up with the others and when he made it Nightshade started telling them everything she had told Black Canary.


	26. Old Acquaintance

February 14- Central City- 12:34 P.M-

Wally woke up to his phone ringing, still asleep he picked it up and mumbled something into it only to hear Artemis's voice on the other end. He jumped up from his bed and checked the date, it was Valentine's Day and he had forgotten about it— again. Without hanging up he started looking for his clothes all over his messy room all the while trying to come up with a lousy excuse for his girlfriend.

"Look babe, I know I'm half an hour late and all but I was uhm…looking for your present," he said buttoning his shirt and darting out of the room, "I'll be there in two minutes…tops," he said and hung up. Wally ran out of his house and then came back for the present that sat on top of his nightstand, before going off again. Meanwhile Artemis waited for him in front of the Central City station, she had been waiting for twenty minutes before she decided to call him and now he had hung up leaving her talking to herself. She didn't wait much longer since Wally stopped right in front of her showing her a small bag.

"Is this your apology gift or your Valentine's Day gift?" she asked giving him a half smile before kissing him, "thank you," she said and took the bag, inside was a silver watch with a black strap. Artemis stared at it for a while before reaching out for a box. Wally opened it and took out a blindfold.

"Babe, you know I really don't mind but if I had known this were the types of gifts we were giving I would have given you something more creative," he said looking at her. Artemis shook her head and put the blindfold over his eyes.

"Just shut up and keep walking," she said and pushed him through the street until they came to a stop, the smell of food filled up his nose and he felt an urge to lift the blindfold, but Artemis took it off first. "Happy Valentine's Day Wally! It's on me," she said and he saw they were standing in front of an all you can eat restaurant. He turned around and gave her a light kiss.

"You are like the best girlfriend ever. Have I ever told you that?" he said and the two of them walked inside.

Happy Harbor- 6:00 P.M-

Megan and Conner had gone out for the day and where just returning to the cave. They sat down on the couch and talked to each other for a while, they had been in a relationship for a little bit over a year and they had just gotten out of a big fight. The awkward silence that filled the room made them want to get up and leave but it was Valentine's Day, so they took the chance to try and make up.

"I love you, you know that right?" she asked him to which Conner nodded and gave her a smile.

"I—I love you too,"

"Hey, Jade told me that she is going out with Lance now," she said trying to cover the new silence that had appeared.

"She is?" he asked as Megan placed her head on his shoulder.

"Well she didn't say they were going out. She did say they slept together, so I'm assuming they will go out," she said, Conner looked at her with wide eyes. Girl talk is scary, he thought giving Megan a kiss in the head.

Gotham City- 9:13 P.M-

Jade walked into her apartment after being out with Rocket on a mission, she took her coat off and just after she threw it on the counter she heard a voice coming from the couch. "Need help with that?" said Lance looking at her.

"Son of a bitch, don't scare me like that!" she said taking a step back, she recovered from the surprise and slowly made her way towards him and sat down beside him letting out a big sigh. "Anyway, how did you get in here?" she asked.

"Hey, happy Valentine's Day, nice to see you too. Alex let me in, she said she'll be staying at her boyfriend's place, I got you a present but you kind of stepped on it," he said and pointed at the flowers on entrance.

"I'm so sorry, I swear I didn't see them," she said getting up to get them, but Lance grabbed her and pulled her back on the sofa, he leaned in giving her a kiss before wrapping his arms around her. "You can do that later. So, what's bothering you?" he asked as she sank down on his chest.

"Nothing really, I'm just tired. I'm finally sleeping more than four hours and I guess it's catching up to me," she said closing her eyes for a minute before jumping back up. "Happy Valentine's Day, I almost forgot," she said and turned to hug Lance and sat down on his lap. She looked out the window to see someone that looked like Robin walking around the building, but brushed it off when she felt Lance's hand up her shirt.

Gotham City- March 23- 12:34 P.M-

Robin had been dragged around by Batgirl all day long and they had finally made it back to Mount Justice, Superboy and Miss Martian were in the kitchen and Zatanna was training with Black Canary. Robin's mind had been wandering for the last hour or so, and that was why he didn't hear everything Batgirl was trying to tell him.

"….Nightshade," she said, confused Robin waited for her to say it again, "Where's Nightshade? I wanted to talk to her," she said looking around the room, then she walked over to the training room where Zatanna and Black Canary had just finished sparring.

"Batgirl, what's up?" asked Zatanna walking towards them wiping her sweat off with a dry towel and then placing it over her shoulder.

"I'm looking for Nightshade," she said leaning into the room and looking around, but she wasn't there either.

"Nightshade's not here yet, she should be on her way thought," said Black Canary, "she is supposed to have a training session with me in a couple of minutes," she explained and walked away into the kitchen to look for a drink. Batgirl sighed and she and Robin followed Zatanna back into the main room, but just before walking in Robin pulled her back and he couldn't say anything because Batgirl put her hand over his mouth.

"You still like her," she said, Robin looked at her for a few seconds as he couldn't make out the words. Batgirl always had a way of knowing what he was thinking, "You still like Nightshade and you're worried about her. I get it, so good luck wonder boy," she said and leaned in to give him a light kiss on the cheek just as Nightshade walked out of the room behind them. The girl cleared her throat as she stepped aside.

"Sorry I interrupted," she said and quickly walked past them and into the main room. Of course she misunderstood, who wouldn't….Batgirl's hands where on his face and their faces where incredibly close as if they had just kissed or where about to, which was exactly what was going on. Damn it, thought Robin as he instinctively moved away from Batgirl, and she ran after Nightshade.

"Nightshade!" she yelled after her, "how long have you been there?" she asked.

"About an hour, I was using one of the empty rooms to take a nap," she said pouring some water into a glass. So she was probably asleep when we were talking, thought Batgirl a little relieved.

"Look, about what you saw, that was nothing, it was just a peck on the cheek," she explained, Nightshade looked at her and then chug down the water as if she hadn't drank anything in the last couple of days.

"Hey, clam down I don't care, I'm going out with Lance now so…" she started but was interrupted by Miss Martian popping up from behind her.

"You are?" she asked, then she was joined by Zatanna.

"You are?" she repeated, the girls had gotten really close to her and Nightshade started feeling as if she was being suffocated.

"Really?" asked Batgirl sounding a bit unconvinced, and now even Superboy wanted to know. Nightshade was about to speak when Robin walked into the room and everyone went silent, though it was not because of him, but because of the big shadowy man standing behind him. "Batman," said Batgirl. Well, there's a party trick, thought Nightshade as Robin turned around to see him. He didn't act surprised, Batman had a habit of sneaking up on people. He scanned the team and then his eyes laid on Black Canary.

"Why don't you take the day off, there's some League business Canary, Red Tornado and I have to attend to," he said and they walked away into the zeta tubes. Shit, thought Nightshade, he was my way out of this, now I'll have to explain what's going on with Lance. Her eyes landed on Robin, he being there made everything a bit more awkward. She was with Lance now, so why did she felt like punching a hole through the wall the moment she saw Batgirl and Robin together? All this thoughts ran through her mind and she wished she didn't know the answer to that big question. Suddenly the wall behind them was blown up by a light beam and the group was thrown to the other side; Superboy had time to cover them using his strength to support the wall before it fell over.

The team stood up to see Dr. Light flying over their heads, Superboy threw the wall at him but missed him by an inch, Dr. Light then shot another light beam in their direction and they barely managed to avoid it when he was already shooting the next one. Zatanna started to cast a spell but was knocked down by him. "I'd recommend shorter words," he said lowering himself to the ground. Batgirl helped Zatanna back on her feet as Nightshade and Robin ran towards him, Nightshade was forming a fireball in her hand and Robin pulled out a birdarang. They threw it at the same time and Nightshade's fireball was ripped apart by the light beam, but Robin's birdarang hit Dr. Light and exploded in his face. "I have no time to lose in childish games, I have a check to cash right after this," he said eyeing Nightshade.

"What is he talking about?" she asked Robin who was standing next to her, he looked over at the rest of the team and they shook their heads. It didn't feel right not to tell her, and of course if there was a group of assassins after him he would want to know, but given the recent events it was better to keep it a secret.

"Who knows," he said just as they had to move to dodge another attack, Dr. Light raised his hand and moved it slowly. Suddenly there was a copy of everyone standing right next to them, they all looked around sort of confused, trying to identify some clues that would give them away just like that time with Copy Cat but they looked identical.

"Oh for the love of…" said Nightshade and took out her gun and ran towards the other Nightshade, but the second one grabbed her arm before she could fire it and bent her arm causing the first Nightshade to shoot the wall, then she kicked her in the stomach. As soon as her foot touched her, she exploded and disappeared with the gun. Soon the other copies started doing the same, Miss Martian's copy threw a piece of the wall at her, but she was faster and hit her with the couch making a hole in the wall. Batgirl threw a batarang at her copy but she dodged it, then she decided to go hand in hand and with the first punch the copy disappeared. In a few minutes they were all clear, Robin dust off his hands and turned to look at Dr. Light.

"Well, that was easy…I'm underwhelmed," said Robin as Superboy rushed towards Dr. Light ready to throw a punch but he formed a force field around himself blocking the punch. Thanks to that Superboy was sent flying through the wall, and Miss Martian rushed to help him. "Nightshade, these force fields work as long as he absorbs light, right?" he asked, Nightshade nodded.

"They work the same way Rocket's force fields work with kinetic energy," she clarified.

"In his case, the more light he absorbs, stronger the force field. We could try giving him more light to absorb, but it will take longer than simply taking it away," said Batgirl and the three of them turned to look at Zatanna.

"That was all I needed to know. Z! Block him out," he said and Zatanna cast a spell where the whole room was engulfed in complete darkness. It was so dark Robin couldn't see Nightshade and she was standing right next to him, which he knew because he could feel her hand brushing against his arm and she was giving off a familiar warmth. Superboy used his infrared vision to see Dr. Light staggering through the room and took the chance to punch him knocking him out. The light returned to the room and Dr. Light was laying on the floor unconscious. "I'm just going to say this one more time, I'm underwhelmed," said Robin.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask, how is Aqualad?" asked Batgirl tying up Dr. Light's hands and feet while blowing away a strand of red hair that had fallen in front of her face.

"He's fine, he took some time off to recover with Queen Mera's help," said Robin then he looked at Nightshade who averted her eyes. He laid a hand over her shoulder, "It was not your fault, it could have happened to anyone," he said trying to cheer her up and it worked for a minute since she gave him a small smile. Things seemed to be getting better between them, and he felt that he was dealing with a different person, a more open person and he liked that. After a while Batman and some members of the Justice League returned to Mount Justice to see the giant holes in the walls with Miss Martian and Superboy trying to put it all back together, Dr. Light tied up in the back and Batgirl gone.

"What happened here?" asked Wonder Woman stepping out from behind Batman. Nightshade was going to give an explanation when her phone rang and she moved away to answer it.

"Dr. Light broke in, although it was easy I'm almost certain he was also after Nightshade," answered Robin taking the chance since Nightshade was busy. Batman looked at the girl as she hung up, he walked up to her, but Nightshade just ran past him.

"Sorry Batsy, whatever you have to say it can wait until I get back," she said and left the cave. Batman, Wonder Woman and the others watched her leave and then returned to talking with each other.

"We actually came here to talk to you about something that might interest the team," said Wonder Woman, "but we'll have to proceed without Nightshade now. This has something to do with the artifact you recovered from Athens. Let's go, the others are already waiting in the Watchtower," she said, the team nodded.

"Red Tornado, stay behind in case Nightshade comes back," said Batman, they went off and followed the others to the Watchtower.

Gotham City- 4:25 P.M-

Nightshade dropped the unconscious body of The Dollmaker in front of the GCPD and disappeared among the tall buildings. She reached the Wayne Tower and sat down on the ledge, it was her favorite building since it gave her a perfect view of the city with the cars rushing at her feet that where dangling free over the ledge. She appreciated the quiet which was interrupted when she heard footsteps coming from behind, so she slowly turned around to see Lady Shiva walking her way. A living legend, thought Nightshade as she got up and stepped back onto the roof. She examined Shiva, she hadn't changed at all since the last time they met, and that wasn't a good thing because the last time Nightshade had seen Shiva she was falling off a window. Of course it was probably the first and last time it happened because after that, Shiva built a reputation as one of the deadliest assassins Ra's al Ghul had.

"You know most people start running when they see me," she said stopping in front of Nightshade, completely calmed and composed.

"Most people don't see you," she said, okay a few things had changed, for starters Shiva was taller than her and had trade in the one piece suit for a pair of pants, a shirt and a long trench coat, "why are you so serious, are you here on a job or something?" she asked, Shiva laughed and grabbed Nightshade by the collar.

"Actually I am, my master ordered me to bring back your head in a platter. Apparently the last attempt made by Scarecrow and Gorilla Grodd was a failure and don't even get me started on Dr. Light," she said, Nightshade looked her in the eyes, so Ra's al Ghul is after me, she thought not looking away from Shiva, "there's a reward, but I'll even do it for free," she said.

"Hey, why the sudden aggressiveness? I thought we were friends," said Nightshade shoving Shiva's hand away from her.

"It's not sudden, and we were never friends," she said taking out her sword. So she's still angry about that, thought Nightshade remembering the last time she had seen Shiva.

It was a couple of years ago, right after Nightshade had gotten her powers from the experiments, Shiva was brought in to test what she had learned from Ra's al Ghul. She was a kid, not much older than Nightshade, about two years or so. They were told to fight and they did, and Shiva defeated Nightshade with ease, after all the girl had been training for just a year while Shiva had four years of training under her belt. The girls met a few more times after and with every fight it was harder for Shiva to defeat Nightshade, but she eventually did. Now the last time they had seen each other was in their usual fights, Nightshade had turned twelve and had just gotten back from her time with the Joker, which meant Shiva was around fifteen. It was a big fight with Lex Luthor and Ra's al Ghul watching, they even rented an old building and the fight took place on the third floor.

Nightshade had gotten in fighting position and was waiting for Shiva to attack, when she did Nightshade defended herself with all she had and Shiva couldn't even touch her. Shiva threw a high kick and Nightshade dodged it and returned it with a punch to the face that was avoided by Shiva. The fight went on a little longer, both girls exhausted and wounded, but Shiva started to get frustrated watching Nightshade's wounds closing. She took out a knife and charged at Nightshade, seeing this the girl moved out of the way and Shiva ended up going through the window. Everyone thought she would just fall, but Shiva held onto the edge even though the glass was making its way through her skin. Nightshade walked up to her, Shiva eyed her and then looked down at the ground. It was a big fall from there, but she didn't look worried, those fights always ended right before someone would get seriously hurt. Nightshade looked back at Ra's and Lex and after they gave her an approving nod she kicked Shiva across the face and watched her fall.

"Well if you look at it objectively, it was your fault," said Nightshade with a smirk on her face reaching down for the black stick hanging on her hip. Shiva got angrier and raised her sword against her, Nightshade took out hers and pushed her back. "So we're not going to talk this out, huh?" she said watching Shiva moving closer again.

"There is nothing to talk about," she said and charged at her once again, this time instead of using her sword she kicked her on the side and Nightshade rolled away to the other side of the roof, "I was planning my revenge against Nightcrawler, but you suddenly decided to quit and join the mighty cause. You don't even deserve my time, you are just a fucking coward!" she said kicking her again before she could get up. Nightshade grabbed her foot before another kick could come in and pushed her out of the way, and she got up holding her stomach.

"Yeah, I probably am," she said wincing in pain and kicking Shiva in the face. Shiva didn't even blink, instead she threw a punch at her and followed it by releasing a wave of knives that cut through Nightshade's suit. She had used that move before, hell she had learned that move from Shiva and yet she couldn't avoid it. Nightshade didn't have much time to move or counterattack when she was stabbed in the chest. The sword went through her body and came out the other side. Nightshade fell to her knees as blood came out, she had forgotten how good Shiva had gotten since their last encounter, an assassin without mercy.

"I've had worthier opponents, you have turned into an insignificant target," she said looking down at Nightshade. She was right, Nightshade had been avoiding training and she wasn't as active as before, so as she laid face down on the floor she promised herself that she would start training again if she managed to get out of this one. Shiva took out her sword ready to end the fight, but the girl got back up and threw a knife at Shiva, it hit the sword forcing it out of her hand. Shiva looked at her, the wound in her chest seemed like it was slowly closing, "I've fought Batman, Robin and other members of the Justice League, what makes you think you can take me?" she asked blocking a punch to the face. Nightshade kept throwing hits at her despite the fact that every time she moved more blood came out her wounds.

"Because I know you. The justice League doesn't believe in the kill or be killed moral code, but you and I were raised to follow it," she said finally landing a punch, she lit her fist on fire and released a fireball that pushed Shiva to the ground and over the edge of the building. If Nightshade pushed her down just like the last time then she would surely die, Shiva waited patiently for her death when she heard the footsteps getting farther away, "too bad the bastards are rubbing off on me," said Nightshade picking up the bloody sword from the ground. Shiva got back on the roof.

"What are you doing?" she asked watching Nightshade run.

"I'm running away!" she yelled and jumped from roof to roof, Shiva was left dumbfounded but she didn't go after her, she was injured and pursuing her would be a waste of time.

Mount Justice- 7:45 P.M-

Nightshade stormed into the cave still carrying the sword, "Black Canary! Red Tornado!" she yelled clearly angry. Red Tornado appeared in the room shortly after, he looked at Nightshade and went to get a first aid kit, "forget about that, the team and Batman. Where are they?" she asked.

"Right now there's a Justice League meeting in the Watchtower, the team is there. They were actually waiting for you, but it should be ending soon. I suggest you wait for them down here while I treat your wounds," he said.

"Even better, take me to the Watchtower,"

"I still think you should wait here,"

"Take. Me. There," she said looking up at him and lowering her voice, he nodded and they walked over to the zeta tubes.

-Watchtower-

Nightshade and Red Tornado walked into the meeting room where everyone was getting ready to leave, the room went completely silent the moment they stepped inside. The others looked at her torn uniform and the wounds that were still visible and bleeding, some of them even wondered how she was still walking. Before saying anything Nightshade took out Shiva's sword and threw it on the floor, it was still covered in blood. The league directed their attention to the sword, Batman and Robin recognized it immediately as Lady Shiva's.

"Nightshade what the hell happened to you?" asked Black Canary walking up to the girl.

"I was attacked by Lady Shiva. Apparently the Light has been sending assassins after me and you knew all about it. When were you planning on telling me?" she asked looking at Batman and the team, "while I was dying on the ground and some idiot was cashing in a reward? What the fuck were you waiting for?" she yelled. No one answered, which only fed her anger.

"I needed more information before I could tell you. You know the team and the Justice League never would have let that happen," said Batman, Nightshade glared at him and let out a small laugh.

"Look at me! I barely made it. I had to run away!" she said and then pointed at the sword, "and in case you were wondering, that's my blood. She fucking stabbed me in the chest! She was about to chop my head off," there was a moment of silence which Nightshade took to cool down a bit, "Despite what you think, I'm not immortal," she said and then turned to look at the team. "And you, I asked you earlier today what Dr. Light was talking about and you brushed it off," she said to Robin. At this point everyone was looking either at the substantial amount of blood on the sword or her wounds.

"I didn't want you to find out," he explained, "not after all that has happened,"

"I think I speak for everyone when I say the League and the team will be there to help you, and of course provide protection," said Wonder Woman walking towards the girl.

"Sorry no," she said, "I just thought you should know how pissed I am right now," she said and stormed off. Wonder Woman turned to glare at Batman and the team.

"It's completely understandable," she said, "How dare you hide something like that? When you told us today I thought Nightshade was aware of the situation. If she had known she could have been more prepared for an assassin like Shiva," she said.

"Batman, Nightshade was not ready for that fight," said Superman as he and the rest of the Justice League stood up, "Communication has always been your weakness," he said and left with the rest of the League. The sword still remained on the ground, so the team took it before leaving the Watchtower. They put it in the cave and Robin stayed behind alone in the room with it. Thoughts about Nightshade kept popping up in his head, everything was fine in the morning and now he had screwed up….again.

Back in Gotham Nightshade leaned against the wall of the alley where the zeta tube was, she drew her hand to her chest and watched as it turned red from the blood. Her wounds were not closing properly and she didn't know why. She put a coat over her shoulders and jumped from roof to roof until she reached her apartment building, she didn't notice Robin had been following her for the last ten minutes in his civilian clothes. He had sneaked out and decided to make things right and apologize before things turned cold. She walked into her apartment from the window and sat down on the couch for a while before going to knock on the other door. Meanwhile Robin had gotten into the building and was making his way towards her apartment, using the window seemed a little far-fetched.

Lance opened the door after hearing Nightshade knocking and looked at her while leaning against the doorway, "is this your new uniform?" he asked while giving her a small smile. Nightshade hit him and went in for a hug, he placed his chin on her head and hugged her tightly, "how are you felling?" he asked getting serious, she pushed him away gently and looked up at his face. She thought of telling him about the assassins, but then decided to keep quiet finally understanding how the team and Batman felt.

"Better, only that now I have to apologize to the old man and the others," she said giving him a slight smile, "ever since that talk with Black Canary and the team the images have been less constant and I can finally sleep," she reported. Neither Nightshade nor Lance noticed Robin walking their way, so Lance simply leaned down and kissed her, and she smiled.

"You know if you are not too tired I can help you get out of that uniform," he said leaning closer. She gave him a smirk and put a hand on his chest.

"Sounds like a great idea," she said and pushed him inside closing the door behind her to reveal a shocked Robin, his chest felt heavy and he felt an incredible urge to storm inside and take her away, but instead he walked away.


End file.
